Grounded theory
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Grounded theory
Grounded theory is a qualitative research approach suitable for investigating and understanding real-life situations. Originally developed in the 1960s by the sociologists Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss, grounded theory is now widely used by researchers, particularly in the health sciences. Grounded theory provides researchers with well-established procedures for dealing with large quantities of unstructured data. The goal of grounded theory is to develop theory from practice.
Classroom-based researchers are increasingly recognizing the potential of qualitative research approaches such as grounded theory to understand the complex social and pedagogic processes that routinely occur in language classrooms.
For an introduction to grounded theory development procedures see Chapter One of Rose Senior's book The Experience of Language Teaching. For a detailed description of the individual steps involved in the development of a grounded theory see Chapter Two of Rose's doctoral dissertation 'The good language class: Teacher perceptions'
Thesis available online at the Australasian Digital Theses Program website: http://adt.ecu.edu.au/adt-public/adt-ECU2006.0002.html.
Twelve years of research and the analysis of five interlinked studies has enabled Rose to formulate a socio-pedagogic theory of classroom practice. This theory, proposed in Chapter Twelve of The Experience of Language Teaching, serves as a framework within which hitherto neglected aspects of classroom interaction can be investigated.