Friday, 1 May 2015

The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research,
Barney G Glaser and Anselm L Strauss, Aldine, 1967, page 30

Grounded theory takes a large weight off the back of the researcher:

The pressure is not on the sociologist to "know the whole field" or to have all the facts "from a careful random sample." His job is not to provide a perfect description of an area, but to develop a theory that accounts for much of the relevant behaviour.

While in one sense this seems delighfully vague, it is also hugely liberating. All the more so for novices like myself, working alone in an under-developed part of the field.