Table 2. Stages of code and category construction in grounded theory analysis.

Stage of Analysis	Data source	Process	Outputs
Stage 1	Interviews 1–5	Line by line coding using gerunds. Collapsing codes into each other to develop focused codes.	569 Initial Codes 32 groups of Codes
Stage 2	Interviews 6–10	Coding using code group headings. New codes developed where data did not ‘fit’. Groups of codes from interviews 1–5 and new codes collapsed into each other to generate focused codes.	158 Codes that sit within 23 groups of codes
Stage 3	Interviews 1–10	Ongoing comparison of transcripts, codes and groups of codes. Memo-writing and clustering to develop focused codes and categories.	63 Focused Codes 11 Categories
Stage 4
Stage 5	Open text data from survey incorporated	Data coded using focused codes. Data comparison to confirm categories. Memo-writing and clustering used to check and broaden categories.	11 Categories
Stage 6	All data	RE-naming of some categories. Development of a final set of categories and sub-categories and the construction of a core category from an existing category.	One core Category Six categories Four sub-categories
Stage 7		Construction of a grounded theory.	Diagrammatic representation of the theory