A Qualitative Research Literature Review [1 of 5]

Abstract


This document serves as a response to a guided inquiry on the qualitative methodology of grounded theory. Specifically, said inquiry leverages five articles chosen at random (one, an actual study) with their deconstruction in mind.



Purpose

Creswell outlines five approaches (narrative, phenomenological, grounded theory, ethnography and case study), this author focuses on grounded theory under the impression that this particular qualitative methodology is most suited for what will become a doctoral dissertation (by this writer)(Creswell, 2006). In short, this document becomes preparatory research for the targeted research expected to follow.



Example Issues

Despite this author's findings of works that might well prove more suitable for his own long-range purposes through more pedestrian searches (Google), the five grounded theory works (one of which being a full-blown study) were randomly downloaded through academic databases.

These five works express individual strengths and weaknesses (the individual delineation of which will follow in the next subhead), yet overall serve well as unique expressions of grounded theory (Fig. 1).

Nonetheless, a few issues arose among the works that were not necessarily unique to just one work. Chief among these was what appears to be a ridiculously exhaustive amount of documentation. While this author can appreciate, as an example, the need to literally transcribed word for word what might occur in a given interview (and both the process and result are deceptively long and tedious, if one has not done this before), what is being pointed at here might colloquially be termed as encyclopedic expressions. One of the works cited upwards of 700+ documents!

Other shared issues include checking recording devices and sensitivities to settings. This latter seems especially nuanced and insightful, for it is true how subtle extraneous considerations can influence inputs (the color of the room, the lighting, the nature of images on the wall, etc.). Indeed, a wonderful dissertation could be composed of just this alone.



The Pros and the Cons

As previously noted the works selected were entirely at random. It is interesting, however, that two pair of the five works had something in common; i.e., one pair shared a culinary theme, another pair was concerned with an aspect of a K-12 experience. The subheads (in no particular order) that follow are abbreviated versions of the full titles of the works considered.





Ethanol (Russell, Ruamsook, & Thomchick, 2009)

The ethanol article was fascinating on several levels. For one, it was the most business grounded article of the group focused exclusively on supply chain. The article was also (for such an esoteric pursuit) surprisingly readable. This work was cobbled together by a trio (an associate professor, an assistant professor and a visiting scholar), all from the Smeal College of Business, Penn State. Among its pros would also include how thoroughly the subject matter was explored and how understandable were the graphics. To its detriment, this article focused on its metadata and did not see the creation of any research, simply the embrace of the wealth of research that was already available.