Table 2.

Considerations of Choosing an Appropriate Grounded Theory Approach.

Areas of Choice	Glaser	Strauss and Corbin	Charmaz
Philosophy	Researchers’ influence and values are denied. Researchers remain objective.	Researchers’ influence and values are recognized. Researchers distant from data and analysis.	Researchers’ influence and values are acknowledged. Researchers passionately engage.
Focus	Developing grounded theory that accounts for all data.	Developing well organized and detailed grounded theory.	Coconstructing a theoretical understanding of people’s experiences and their interpretations.
Research context	Disregarding scholarly discourse. Aim to explore context-independent data to generalize in broader context.	Selective to scholarly discourse. Aim to explore local issues to generalize in broader context.	Attending to scholarly discourse. Aim to explore local issues for local context.
Analytic style	Passively attending to emerging data. Constant comparing for a core category; inductive approach; open and selective coding.	Action-oriented microanalysis through structured procedures. Constant comparing to select a central category; inductive and deductive approaches; open, axial, and selective coding.	Actively utilizing researcher’s creative interpretation. Constant comparing for relevant categories; inductive, deductive, and abductive approaches; initial and focused coding.
Utility	Appropriate to develop broader theory across substantive areas. May take years to develop a theory that can be applicable across areas of interest.	Appropriate to account for a wide range of variables to enhance generalizability and predictive power of the theory. Prescriptive approach may develop a superficial description of the variables.	Appropriate to develop a theory with full breadth and depth of a phenomenon in its local context. May not be generalized away from the context of origin.