Methodological Learning-by-doing: Challenges, lessons learned and rewards

Abstract

The experience of minus mentoring in learning classic grounded theory (CGT) is shared by many people over the world. The aim of this article is to share experiences of learning and using CGT. Data for the article included methodological discussions in the author’s thesis and articles, as well as memos. Consequences of learning grounded theory by doing are presented in the form of challenges and lessons learned but also some rewards. Challenges and lessons learned include sampling-confusion, delimiting-disregarding, judging saturation and conceptual language-struggling. Rewards include trusting the method, insider-researcher and expert-resourcing. Presented rewards could be seen as advice and inspiration for novice GT researchers.

Keywords

• grounded theory
• classic grounded theory
• qualitative methodology