Paper
Friday, July 23, 2004
Quandaries and Queries in Using Grounded Theory for Instrument Development
Judith A. Wuest, RN, PhD1, Marilyn J. Hodgins, RN, PhD1, Marilyn Merritt-Gray, RN, MN1, Patricia Searman, RN, MN1, Jean Malcolm, BA1, and Karen Furlong, BN2. (1) Faculty of Nursing, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada, (2) Nursing, University of New Brunswick, Saint John, NB, Canada
| Learning Objective #1: Identify the practical issues inherent in using grounded theory as a basis for instrument development |
| Learning Objective #2: Discuss the ontological issues inherent in using grounded theory as a basis for instrument development |
Objective:To discuss the pragmatic challenges and ontological questions underpinning instrument development based on grounded theory. Design: Instrument Development Methods:Item construction and evaluation based on grounded theory. Issues: Based on the assumption that inductively-derived theories should be later tested using traditional scientific methods, qualitative research methods sometimes are called initial steps in theory development. Some argue that grounded theory is particularly useful in instrument development because the theoretical properties of concepts are thoroughly explicated by the substantive model. Consequently, scale items representative of the concept can readily be generated from the model. In contrast, others suggest that the grounded theory method results in a context-specific, explanatory theory that is open to modification. As such, it is not a predictive theory from which hypotheses can be derived to test causal relationships in an objective and static reality. Our use of a substantive theory of women’s caring to guide scale development provides an opportunity to explore these opposing views. Scale items were developed as a basis for testing the substantive theory; in particular, whether past relationship with the care recipient, and obligation to care influence the health outcomes, and health promotion activities of female caregivers. The scale was piloted with 50 female caregivers of adult family members in a rural Canadian province. In this paper, we discuss the pragmatic difficulties of quantifying a qualitatively-derived theory, and how this process has illuminated the ontological questions underpinning instrument development. Specific issues include a) how conceptual definitions derived from a grounded theory present challenges for concept validation using a panel of experts, and b) how variation in conceptual properties resulting in item heterogeneity create difficulties in scale development.
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