'Grounded theory is a highly influential way of working with qualitative data and Kathy Charmaz is a major player, both innovative and fluent. This book is a model student text: lively, carefully argued and full of vivid illustrations. Beginning students and professional researchers will find it to be required reading' - David Silverman, Professor Emeritus, Sociology Department, Goldsmiths College and Visiting Professor, Management Department, King's College, University of London Kathy Charmaz is one of the world's leading theorists and exponents of grounded theory. In this important and essential new textbook, she introduces the reader to the craft of using grounded theory in social research, and provides a clear, step-by-step guide for those new to the field. Using worked examples throughout, this book also maps out an alternative vision of grounded theory to that put forward by its founding thinkers, Glaser and Strauss. To Charmaz, grounded theory must move on from its positivist origins and must incorporate many of the methods and questions posed by constructivists over the past twenty years to become a more nuanced and reflexive practice.Essential reading for students, new researchers and seasoned social scientists alike, this book is one of those rare things, a textbook that is both accessible to those new to the field but also one that has important things to say about the nature of social enquiry itself.

Table of Contents

An Invitation to Grounded Theory Gathering Rich Data Coding in Grounded Theory Practice Memo-Writing Theoretical Sampling, Saturation and Sorting Reconstructing Theory in Grounded Theory Studies Writing the Draft Reflecting on the Research Process

About the Author

Kathy Charmaz is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Faculty Writing Program at Sonoma State University in which she helps faculty with their research and scholarly writing. She has written, co-authored, or co-edited eight books including Developing Grounded Theory: The Second Generation, the Handbook of Grounded Theory and Health, Illness, and Healing: Society, Social Context and Self as well as well as two award-winning books, Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide Through Qualitative Analysis, and Good Days, Bad Days: The Self in Chronic Illness and Time. Dr. Charmaz writes numerous chapters and articles on qualitative research methods and also publishes in the areas of social psychology and writing for publication. Currently, she works with four psychologists on an innovative collaborative project that demonstrates how researchers representing five different qualitative approaches analyze the same data. Dr. Charmaz is the president of the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction and has served as Chair of the Medical Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association, President of the Pacific Sociological Association, and Editor of Symbolic Interaction. She has received the Feminist Mentors Award and George Herbert Mead Award for lifetime achievement from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. For the past decade, Dr. Charmaz has been a frequent keynote speaker and seminar presenter in the broad fields of health and illness and qualitative methods. In addition, she regularly teaches professional development classes and workshops for graduate students and faculty on grounded theory methods and academic writing at ResearchTalk in Long Island, New York. As an undergraduate sociology teacher, Dr. Charmaz has an enduring interest in helping SSU students improve their writing and analytic skills and prepare for graduate school.

Reviews

"I love this book. It is the second time I have used it for this course. The doctoral students also find it very useful understanding the grounded theory method." -Mary Ann Jezewski, University at Buffalo, SUNY -- Mary Ann Jezewski "Constructing Grounded Theory is an outstanding handbook for students and seasoned researchers alike who are using or seeking to understand better the application of qualitative methods of data analysis. This deceptively slim volume is extraordinarily dense and packed with down-to-earth advice, living up to its sub-title as 'a practical guide.'" -- Marie L. Radford Science Direct 20080807 "The excellent articles are well written and accessible." This handbook is a wonderful resource for scholars, researchers, students, and professionals about a method and theory that has an exceptional potential to 'ignite the mind.'" -- G.K. Hearn Choice 20080814