Embracing a Legacy, Enabling Social Justice Research Through Constructivist Grounded Theory

In this Festschrift, written and shared to celebrate the life and work of Dr Kathy Charmaz, I draw upon both personal reflections and Kathy's extensive writings to showcase Kathy's contributions to my personal research journey and to the field of qualitative research methodology. I examine the intersection of constructivist grounded theory and social justice research, an important theme of Kathy's work and research. I discuss three components of constructivist grounded theory that support social justice research: researcher reflexivity, prioritizing participants, and the importance of context. I share examples from my own work showing how these three facets of constructivist grounded theory contributed to an unintended yet much appreciated social justice thread in my research. My hope is through my reflection, other researchers, who were not able to meet and interact with Kathy, will be able to understand and appreciate her influence and impact, and her view of research as a responsive, flexible, and meaningful process.