How to do a grounded theory study: a worked example of a study of dental practices

BMC Medical Research Methodology

Anthony Blinkhorn²  R Wendell Evans²  Stacy M Carter¹  Alexandra Sbaraini² 

[1] Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia;Population Oral Health, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

关键词: dental care;    methods;    methodology;    grounded theory;    qualitative research;   

Others  :  1139990
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2288-11-128

 received in 2011-06-17, accepted in 2011-09-09,  发布年份 2011

【 摘 要 】

Background

Qualitative methodologies are increasingly popular in medical research. Grounded theory is the methodology most-often cited by authors of qualitative studies in medicine, but it has been suggested that many 'grounded theory' studies are not concordant with the methodology. In this paper we provide a worked example of a grounded theory project. Our aim is to provide a model for practice, to connect medical researchers with a useful methodology, and to increase the quality of 'grounded theory' research published in the medical literature.

Methods

We documented a worked example of using grounded theory methodology in practice.

Results

We describe our sampling, data collection, data analysis and interpretation. We explain how these steps were consistent with grounded theory methodology, and show how they related to one another. Grounded theory methodology assisted us to develop a detailed model of the process of adapting preventive protocols into dental practice, and to analyse variation in this process in different dental practices.

Conclusions

By employing grounded theory methodology rigorously, medical researchers can better design and justify their methods, and produce high-quality findings that will be more useful to patients, professionals and the research community.

【 授权许可】

   
2011 Sbaraini et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

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