Using grounded theory methods in educational research and evaluation

This leading article focuses on the use of grounded theory as a research approach in educational research and evaluation. It seeks to clarify what is required for a submission to be seen as a grounded theory manuscript. The journal has received, in recent years, manuscripts that lack the necessary academic rigour, in particular in relation to the methods section. It is hoped this article will help to demystify grounded theory and provide guidance for authors planning their research and preparing their manuscript. Grounded theory has an extensive history reaching back to the 1960s with the work of Anselm Strauss and Barney Glaser. Since then, it has evolved with developments and improvements by researchers such as Juliet Corbin, Kathy Charmaz and Adele Clarke. There are various definitions of grounded theory and one by Charmaz is: "Grounded theory methods consist of systematic, yet flexible guidelines for generating and analysing qualitative data, to construct theories grounded in the data themselves." Researchers proposing to use grounded theory need to consider what is required when they are developing their research proposal. They need to decide which type of grounded theory is to be used and to adhere to the published sources relevant to this. This will have implications on how they recruit research participants, how they analyse the data generated from the participants, and how their theory is developed and presented to readers. We welcome submissions that have used grounded theory when it has been thoughtfully and rigorously applied at all stages of the research.