Grounded Theory: A Potential Methodology

Abstract

The central question of this research is concerned with how counsellor trainees experience and perceive aspects of their training in developing competence as counsellors. The researcher, Annemarie Salm, has expressed dissatisfaction with existing theories of counsellor training and a wish to find a more satisfactory model which is sensitive to the “lived experience” of trainees. Grounded theory, as a distinct methodology for developing theory that is grounded in data systematically gathered and analysed by distinct coding procedures, may offer an appropriate mode of inquiry. The kinds of theories that are developed using grounded theory, Strauss and Corbin (1994) acknowledge are interpretations made from given perspectives as adopted by a researcher who needs to remain open to the essentially provisional character of every theory. Given the essentially interpretative and provisional nature of such findings from this method of inquiry, it is proposed in this paper to briefly outline what is involved in using grounded theory and then explore some of the implications of this approach in relation to the present research proposal.