Overview of HifaMo on PostgraduateForum.com

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Signup date: 15 Dec 2013 at 3:27pm

Last login: 15 May 2014 at 9:15am

Post count: 10

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HifaMo 10 posts
10 years ago

Thank you, Meaninginlife.
I appreciate your help

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HifaMo 10 posts
10 years ago

Thank you, Meaninginlife.

I will make it specific.

Please is the following combination of words fine, just the second part of the title (after the colon)?

2. (four words summarizing the topic): A Grounded Theory Netnographic Study of an Online Community

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HifaMo 10 posts
10 years ago

That's all. Good luck!

Thank you, MeaninginLife.

Your replies were very informative.

I have one final question if you don't mind.

I'm confused about what to focus on in my thesis title: netnography, grounded theory or both.

Personally, I want to include both of them as well as the term 'online community', but I don't want to make it verbose.

Could you please tell me which sounds good to you?

1. (four words summarizing the topic): A Netnographic Study of an Online Community
2. (four words summarizing the topic): A Grounded Theory Netnographic Study of an Online Community
3. (four words summarizing the topic): A Grounded Theory Netnography

Thank you

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HifaMo 10 posts
10 years ago

I really appreciate your encouragement, MeaninginLife.

Based on my limited experience, several PhD candidates do not use axial or theoretical codings.

I agree. That is what I noticed and it encouraged to stick to grounded theory method.

Furthermore, you will likely be confused if you read more PhD theses.
We may need to clarify "*whose* grounded theory". Kelpie's grounded theory? Or HifaMo's grounded theory? :-)

Yes, I agree. I have already stopped seeking new ideas because I have to submit the thesis soon.
I didn't get what you meant by the last sentence. If you meant I have to detail how I used grounded theory in the thesis, I am planning to do it, following some PhD theses.

Thank you, MeaninginLife. You helped me a lot.

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HifaMo 10 posts
10 years ago

Quote From kelpie:
I don’t have Charmaz’s book to hand and didn't explain myself very well. If you’ve read it several times you’ll have a much better understanding than me and her approach was something I drew on rather than followed to the letter. My reading was that theoretical coding is about looking for relationships between the categories, coding families help to identify the relationships, and the overall goal is refinement and analytic sense.

Thank you, kelpie. I got it.

I want to ask you and MeaninginLife about core category.

I found that constructivist grounded theorists don't agree on having a single core category.

Could you please explain why?

Thank you

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HifaMo 10 posts
10 years ago

Quote From kelpie:

3. Theoretical coding - refining the focused codes into thematic categories that form a coherent story. At this point I wove in some themes from the literature because I saw some connections, but importantly this shouldn't be done the other way around (i.e. theoretical coding starting from themes from the literature) and might not necessarily happen at all if your theoretical codes don't echo the literature.

Thank you, kelpie.
Your reply was very helpful.

Theoretical coding, as presented by Charmaz (2006), was for me the most cumbersome aspects of grounded theory.
The way you presented it makes it seem rather simple. However, I don't think Charmaz presents it as such in her book Constructing Grounded Theory.
She is rather talking about establishing relationships between categories by applying some coding families suggested by Glaser such his Six Cs.

I would be happy to know what sources you drew on to justify that this what theoretical coding is about.

I hope to see your comment.
Thank you

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HifaMo 10 posts
10 years ago

Quote From MeaninginLife:
a

Quote From HifaMo:

Does this mean axial and theoretical coding are not important?

There is disagreement on the correct way of using grounded theory.
Because some focused on the method of constant comparison, it could be known as "grounded theory approach".
Actually, it is possible that PhD students etc.. don't really follow rules rigorously.
It is also possible that one may not write down the process in detail.

According to Glaser, for example, there should be no literature review in doing grounded theory.
Your categories will be influenced by existing theories or 'external theories'...
Axial and theoretical coding are useful as a guide if you want to develop a relationship or theory...

I appreciate your help.
Thank you

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HifaMo 10 posts
10 years ago

Thank you, MeaninginLife. I really appreciate your help.

In Constructing Grounded Theory, Charmaz lists four types of coding: initial, focused, axial and theoretical coding.
I have seen many PhD dissertations using Charmaz's constructivist grounded theory without using axial and theoretical coding at all. They used just initial and focused coding.

Such as the following:
1. Reframing a sense of self: a constructivist grounded theory study of children’s admission to hospital for surgery
2. An Analysis of the Relationship Between Individuals' Perceptions of Privacy and Mobile Phone Location Data: A Grounded Theory Study
3. Integrative Learning as a Development Process: A Grounded Theory of College Students'’ Experiences In Integrative Studies

Does this mean axial and theoretical coding are not important?

Thank you

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HifaMo 10 posts
10 years ago

Thanks for your replies.

MeaninginLife, I appreciate your help.

I thought specifying links between categories is done through axial coding.

Since theoretical coding is somewhat cumbersome and requires learning theoretical families for which I cannot afford time, I wonder if can use Strauss and Corbin's selective coding to identify a core category (by the way, I am using Charmaz's grounded theory that does not use selective coding).

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HifaMo 10 posts
10 years ago

Hi,

I have embarked on an adventure and need your help.
I am an undergraduate student trying to write a B.A. thesis. I haphazardly found my self in the world of grounded theory and now find it difficult to get out and choose another path. I have learnt so much about it in the last three months, but now I cannot move further.

I'm majoring in cultural studies with English being a second language.

Concerning my thesis, I'm combining netnography with grounded theory.

I discussed this with my supervisor. He said you are not required to do this, but you can do it if you want. He also said he cannot help.

I have settled nearly all aspects of my thesis the issues that pushed me to ask you for help.
Research questions, literature review, and data collection methods are all settled.

Concerning grounded theory, I decided to follow Charmaz's approach. I read her Constructing Grounded Theory (2006) many times.
I've almost grasped it, but the following has confused me.

Does theoretical coding mean using a theoretical framework or an external theory?
Or is it just another, but more conceptual, code?
Is theoretical coding obligatory. In other words, can I use just initial and focused coding? and use memos to develop conceptual categories (of course with theoretical sampling and sorting)?

I hope my post is not too long.

I appreciate your help.

Thank you

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