Elements of Grounded Theory - Essay Example

Grounded theory was used because little is known about the processes involved when midwives engage in facilitating the making of informed choices for women in the United Kingdom during pregnancy and childbirth.

The article considerably used grounded theory because of the following key elements, namely: use of an inductive approach to generate theory from data, use of a constant comparative coding scheme, reliance on theoretical sampling and saturation, and omission of a literature review before data collection (Lichtman, 2011, p. 48). The article generated theory from data that protective steering was the core category that underlies all activities and issues involved with facilitating informed choice, reduced data into codes and reassembled into categories by axial coding, gathered additional data to widen the variability of the approaches to midwifery practice studied, and omitted literature review.

Theoretical Sampling

The term “theoretical sampling” refers to a type of grounded theory sampling in which the researcher’s main purpose is to elaborate and refine categories of developing categories and theories and not to sample randomly selected populations or representative distributions of a particular population (Rubin and Babbie, 2010, p. 150). In theoretical sampling, the researcher begins selecting similar new cases that generate previously detected concepts and hypotheses until no new insights are generated. Often, researchers determine the sample and sample size before the beginning of the study but in the conduct of a study where further categories emerged, samples are chosen because of theoretical relevance. This type of sampling is known as theoretical sampling and aims to discover categories, properties, and new interrelationships in a substantive theory. In addition, theoretical sampling involves the decision of what data to collect next and where to find data to elaborate and refine a theory.

Theoretical sampling is like a combination of deviant and homogenous sampling. Deviant sampling selects unusual samples from both ends of the category (e.g. managers with extremely high caseloads or extremely low caseloads) while homogenous sampling selects and restricts samples based on one category (e.g. all managers with extremely high caseloads).

Transferability of the Results of the Study

 According to Levy (2006), the generalizability or transferability of findings to a wider sample of midwives was not an aim of the study as the article used grounded theory; however, some degree of generalizability can be justified and tentatively claimed (p. 122). In light of this, Bryant and Charmaz (2007) stated that the generalizability of grounded theory extends across all kinds of non-probability sample studies with cases similar to the researcher’s study (p. 162). Therefore, the result of the study is transferable to outside study samples, provided that samples were selected on a non-probability sampling and core category of protective steering.

Part 2

Reason for Study Undertaking

Alcott and Sweeney (2010) authored an article entitled “An Exploration of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Advice Given by Health Professionals to Parents in Ireland about the Introduction of Solid Foods: A Pilot Study” to explore the knowledge and advice practices of working health professionals in Ireland with responsibility for advising parents on infant weaning (p. 203). The purpose of the study is to identify outcome measures, population, and intervention and has relevance to nursing as it addresses weaning knowledge and practices among healthcare professionals. According to Brockopp and Tolsma (2003), the purpose of the study must be clear and relevant to nursing.

Justification for Study Undertaking

The authors did provide adequate justification for undertaking the study through an integrated but comprehensive background section. The authors raised the concern that health professionals faced controversy in fulfilling the responsibility to provide parents with evidence-based, best practice advice about weaning or introduction of solid foods as guidelines and evidence concerning the type and timing of solid foods are changing. In addition, the authors believed that one should explore weaning knowledge and practices among health professionals due to the health implications of eczema, asthma, allergy, and obesity and noted differences among timing guidelines of weaning from health professionals of WHO, Europe, the UK, Ireland, and different bodies.

Suitability of the Research Approach to Research Question

Given the purpose of the study, the exploratory approach with qualitative and quantitative methods is suitable to answer the research question. Exploratory studies are designed to explore and describe a given phenomenon and generate new knowledge (Houser, 2008, p. 188); thus, seek to describe and explore the multidisciplinary focus group (qualitative component) and measure the postal questionnaire (quantitative component) of the study. The population was identified and described but the sampling design used (purposive sampling) did not enhance the sample’s representativeness and introduced biases as samples possess certain characteristics that are relevant to the investigation and researchers handpick cases based on judgment.

Limitations

Several study limitations were identified in the study, among which include: the lack of existing studies on weaning advice practices in Ireland, results based on self-reported practices, samples drawn from the Health Services Executive region, use of an original questionnaire, and low response rate (Alcutt and Sweeney, 2010, p. 207). Existing studies serve as the framework and foundation of research and lack of this element, together with representativeness and enough response rates, may make it hard to generalize findings in a larger population. The results were not audit-based and questionnaires lacked validation which compromised the reliability of the study.