Phenomenological and Grounded Theory
Similarities and Differences between Phenomenological and Grounded Theory
This paper examines the similarities and differences between two qualitative approaches: grounded theory and phenomenology. The two approaches of qualitative research are useful tools in studying phenomena of interest in sociology and philosophy.
Definitions
Grounded theory is an inductive process of generating theory from observation and data collection (Marjan, 2017). This approach reject the notion that there are ready-made theories which can be used in each unique phenomenon. The researcher starts with a very broad question, topic or issue purposely to identify the phenomenon of interest. For example, the researcher may begin with the question, how do women and healthcare providers manage birth? The question is then refined as data collection progresses.
. Phenomenological approach describes how individuals experience a phenomenon. The researcher attempts to gain access to the life-worlds of individuals in order to understand their world of experience (Marjan, 2017). Phenomenological theorists often isolate the phenomenon of interest in order to show the basic structure or essence of shared experience. The aim of phenomenology is to reduce individual experiences to a description of a basic structure or universal essence to better gain a deep understanding of a phenomenon.
Similarities
Phenomenology and grounded theory both seek to comprehend the people’s real life experiences or situations.ve. That is to say, phenomenologists and grounded theorists seek to examine experiences of individuals in the backdrop of the worlds they live in (Marjan, 2017). This requires high level of interaction between the individuals and the researcher on the phenomenon being studied.
Both phenomenologist and grounded theorist seeks to gather data from the perspective of research participants (Marjan, 2017). As a result, they try not to influence or bias the findings by involving research respondents in data analysis. In addition to that, both approaches use the same methods of data collection. Interviews is the major method of data collection used by both approaches. Phenomenological studies often use in-depth interviews in data collection. While interviews is the main method, grounded theorists include all sources of data, such as observation, past literature and images. The aim of grounded theory approach is to develop theory of the experience hinged on the data generated from many participants (Marjan, 2017). Unlike grounded theory, phenomenological approach focuses on eliciting participants’ experiences in order to reveal the phenomenon of interest or comprehend the essence of experience.
Differences
The aim of phenomenology is to explore and describe stories (experiences) of research participants who share common lived experiences. In this regard, phenomenological study requires the researcher to understand the research participants’ experiences as they perceive or see the phenomenon, without influencing or biasing the findings by preoccupied ideas (Marjan, 2017). Thus the researcher shares the research participants’ stories without biasing the interviewee. By contrast, the aim of grounded theory is to derive theory from data collected. Grounded theorists focus on common experiences to describe a phenomenon and this allows to generate a new theory from the participants’ shared experiences. The grounded theory researcher is considered a co-producer. In addition to that, the two approaches also differ in terms of unit of analysis. Phenomenological study uses many individuals as the unit of analysis while grounded theory research studies the experiences of many individuals (Marjan, 2017). Ground theorists concentrate on having many interviewees to generate different data sources while phenomenologists use small sample size.
Reference
Marjan, M. (2017). A comparative analysis of two qualitative methods: deciding between grounded theory and phenomenology for your research. Vocational Training: Research and Realities, 28(1), 23-40
