Getting Started

It may sometimes be said that one of the most difficult parts of doing research is to get started. The making of choices and commitments to a research problem seem less secured and structured when doing descriptive research in quantitative or qualitative research. This occurs because the research problem is chosen beforehand and therefore forces the data, thus the yield may be small or nothing since the problem, in fact, may not be relevant. A “thought up” problem may sound juicy, but the preconception leads nowhere. The underlying principal in grounded theory, which leads to a researchable problem with high yield and relevance, is that the research problem and its delimitation are discovered or emergent as the open coding begins on the first interviews and observations. They soon become quite clear and structured as coding, collection, and analyzing begin and a core variable emerges, and saturation starts to occur. In short, getting started in grounded theory research and analysis is as much a part of the methodological process as are the ensuing phases of the research. Editor’s note: This paper addresses common questions asked by novice grounded theorists about how to avoid preconception when thinking about research problems and research questions. This important chapter has been excerpted and lightly edited for clarity and context from chapter 4 in Glaser’s Basics of Grounded Theory Analysis (1992).