Chapter 2: Framing the Caribbean Landscape: Approaching Grounded Theory From a Decolonizing Perspective

Grounded theory is an approach of qualitative research by which the researcher generates a general explanation (a theory) of a process, action, or set of interactions shaped by the view of a large number of participants (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). Likewise, grounded theory is also correctly and commonly referred to as the intended outcome of this complex research process (Bryant & Charmaz, 2007a; Charmaz, 2003). Grounded theorists, and qualitative researchers alike, refer to the methodology by many names, including but not limited to: grounded theory (GT), the grounded theory method (GTM), and the grounded theory approach (GTA).

Emerging in the 1960s from the works of Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss (1965, 1967, 1968), GT was developed to demonstrate that qualitative research was not only rigorous but also able to produce the type of significant findings readily associated with quantitative research (Bryant & Charmaz, 2007a). Bryant and Charmaz (2007a) concluded that in the creation of GT, Glaser and Strauss challenged positivist-oriented concerns about qualitative research when they offered researchers a methodology with a solid core of data analysis and theory construction.