The main difference between phenomenology and grounded theory is that phenomenology is a research methodology that attempts to understand subjective human experiences, while grounded theory is a research methodology that involves the discovery of emerging patterns in data.
Phenomenology and grounded theory are two research methodologies common in social sciences. Both are qualitative research methodologies.
Key Areas Covered
1. What is Phenomenology
– Definition, Features
2. What is Grounded Theory
– Definition, Features
3. Difference Between Phenomenology and Grounded Theory
– Comparison of Key Differences
Key Terms
Grounded Theory, Phenomenology, Research Methodology
What is Phenomenology
Phenomenology is a study that attempts to understand the subjective, lived experiences and perspectives of participants in a research study. This research methodology is based on the principle that a single experience can be interpreted in multiple ways and that reality consists of each participant’s interpretation of the said experience. Thus, phenomenology provides information about unique individual experiences, ultimately offering a detailed and complete description of human experiences and meanings.
In phenomenology, data collection usually involves long and intensive, semi-structured or unstructured personal interviews. Since phenomenology relies heavily on interviews, researchers may have to conduct several interview sessions with each participant. But it’s important to note that the information derived through these interviews may depend on the interviewing skills of the researcher as well as the articulate skills of the participants. In fact, this is one limitation of this method.
What is Grounded Theory
Grounded theory is a research methodology that involves the construction of theory through the analysis of data. It involves the discovery of emerging patterns in data. The two sociologists, Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss, discovered this method. Furthermore, this method is common in the field of social sciences.
Moreover, grounded theory research doesn’t start with any pre-existing hypothesis, theory, or expectation of findings. It generally starts with a question or even a collection of qualitative data. When the researcher begins to evaluate and analyze this collected data, he or she will begin to notice repeated concepts and ideas, which will be then extracted and tagged with codes. As more data is collected and reviewed, more codes will emerge, and they can be grouped into concepts, which can then be further grouped into categories. These categories become the basis for theories in the grounded theory method.
Thus, the aim of the grounded theory method is not only to describe a phenomenon but also to develop an appropriate theoretical framework to evaluate the phenomenon. This approach is quite different from other research approaches since the selection of a theoretical framework proceeds the data collection in most of these methods. This allows researchers to develop a theory that remains connected to the qualitative data collected, which further makes them refine and develop their ideas and intuitions about their findings. This is one of the main strengths of the grounded theory.
Difference Between Phenomenology and Grounded Theory
Definition
Phenomenology is a study designed to understand the subjective, lived experiences and perspectives of participants in a research study, while grounded theory is a research methodology that involves the construction of theory through the analysis of data.
Nature
Phenomenology helps to analyze and evaluate life experiences, whereas grounded theory helps to analyze and evaluate phenomena.
Selection of Theoretical Framework
In phenomenology, the selection of a theoretical framework precedes the data collection, but in grounded theory, the selection of a theoretical framework follows the data collection.
Data Collection
Grounded theory may use a variety of methods for data collection, but phenomenology only uses interviews for data collection.
Conclusion
Phenomenology is a study that attempts to understand the subjective life experiences and perspectives of participants in a research study, while grounded theory is a research methodology that involves the construction of theory through the analysis of data. Phenomenology helps to analyze and evaluate life experiences, whereas grounded theory helps to analyze and evaluate phenomena. Hence, this is the main difference between phenomenology and grounded theory.
Reference:
1. Brown. Qualitative methodologies: ethnography, phenomenology, grounded theory and more. PDF.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Women In Tech – 82” By WOCinTech Chat (CC BY 2.0) via Flickr
2. “Data-gathering-methods” By Abd Alsattar Ardati – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia
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