Keith Paul Bahde

Abstract: theoretical constructs from experience, suggest ways in which the constructs 83 are typically related, and elaborate nuances regarding the dynamics in which they occur. As noted by Strauss and Corbin (1998): In open coding, the analyst is concerned with generating categories and their properties and then seeks to determine how categories vary dimensionally. In axial coding, categories are systematically developed and linked with subcategories. However, it is not until the major categories are finally integrated to form a larger theoretical scheme that the research findings take the form of theory. Selective coding is the process of integrating and refining categories. (p. 143) Validity and Reliability in Grounded Theory In their original treatise on grounded theory, Glaser and Strauss noted that most sociological scholarship was focused on theory verification. In contrast, their grounded theory method focused on theory generation. As a result, the appropriateness of traditional “canons of rigor” (Glaser & Strauss, 1967, p. 224) used in the logical positivist approach to theory verification including validity and reliability must be reconsidered when developing grounded theory. In this section, the traditional notion of validity is reframed for the grounded theory process as credibility, and the traditional notion of reliability is reframed as objectivity. Validity Credibility According to Vogt (1999), a valid research process is one which “accurately measures what it is supposed to measure” (p. 301). In other words, “[v]alidity means ... that a theory, model, concept, or category describes reality with a good fit, just as a good map properly describes Earth” (Gummesson, 2000, p. 92). Validity is also closely related to the ability to generalize the findings of a research process (Gummesson, 2000).