Staying Open: The Use of Theoretical Codes in GT

• Main Author: Barney G. Glaser, PhD, Hon. PhD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociology Press 2013-06-01
• Series: Grounded Theory Review: An International Journal
• Subjects: Grounded theory; theoretical codes; theoretical coding
• Online Access: http://groundedtheoryreview.com/2013/06/22/staying-open-the-use-of-theoretical-codes-in-gt/

Theoretical codes (TC’s) are the abstract models that emerge during the sorting of mature memos in to a potential substantive theory. They conceptualize the integration of substantive codes into hypotheses of a substantive theory. The researcher is challenged to staying open to their emergence and earned relevance rather than their preconceived forcing, which is very strong. They not only bring in their framework, but also their theoretical perspective, which can easily force the data beyond emergence. For example, using a basic social process TC requires at least two stages and there may not be a process in the sorting emergence. It may be all just be dimensions or conditional. In this chapter I discuss the skill of staying open to the emergent TC. As the reader knows, there are many TC’s and each has its requirement for use and perspective. In chapter 3 of the book Getting out of the Data: I will discuss more fully all the TC effects that originate preconceptions.