How parents manage the risk of child sexual abuse: a grounded theory

The aim of this study is to understand how parents manage the risk of child sexual abuse, including prevention as well as early intervention and detection strategies. Using a social constructivist theoretical foundation and grounded theory methods, qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with Australian parents between 2006 and 2008. Based on the data, a balance theory was developed, which explains how parents attempt to balance the type of information given to children in order to protect their children from sexual abuse without scaring them as well as how parents manage sexual boundary crossing incidents experienced by their children in the context of complex social relationships. Implications for prevention programs as well as reporting of child sexual abuse are discussed.

Chalk and cheese: Grounded theory case studies of the introduction and usage of activity-based information in two British banks

During the conduct of a research project into influences on the use of management accounting information, the use of activity-based techniques and information in two British banks was studied by the application of grounded theory principles. Juxtaposition of these two case studies reveals insights about the managers' significantly different experiences of ongoing applications, and the different outcomes of implementation that may arise, despite commonality in the organization and industry environment. This paper presents these two case studies, highlights the similarities and differences between them, and draws some conclusions about the causes of the differences. Factors that can be managed to achieve a greater use of these particular management accounting techniques, and the information they generate, are revealed. In particular, the findings suggest that the introduction of transfer charging between the bank's internal units highlights the need for activity-based techniques, and that education, communication and implementor support are vital, both for implementation success and for the widespread continuing use of the resultant applications. Further, between the two cases the greatest consensus was found in a common concern about the amount of detail in the databank and reports.

Managers' views on ABC in an insurance company: A grounded theory case study

This is an in-depth case study using a grounded theory approach to explore managers’ views of ABC as part of the control system in an insurance company. Relevant issues are allowed to emerge from the data rather than imposing a theoretical framework upon them. Hypotheses are derived rather than confirmed. Issues emerging from this case study include: the relevance of ABC to managers, increased cost awareness coupled with the problem of taking qualitative factors into account, and the existence of different perceptions of managers within the same department. One hypothesis is how an understanding of ABC can affect job satisfaction by influencing the impact of ABC on managers’ actions. In this case study process and non-process managers had different levels of understanding and use of ABC information. A second hypothesis is that how managers view ABC information depends on whether they adopt a personal or an organisational perspective.

Grounded theory as foundations for methods in applied ontology

Research into domain specific ontologies is difficult to treat empirically. This is because it is difficult to ground domain ontology while simultaneously being true to its guiding philosophy or theory. Further, ontology generation is often introspective and reflective or relies on experts for ontology generation. Even those relying on expert generation lack rigour and tend to be more ad-hoc. We ask how Grounded Theory can be used to generate domain specific ontologies where appropriate high level theory and suitable textual data sources are available. We are undertaking generation of a domain ontology for the discipline of information systems by applying the Grounded Theory method. Specifically we are using Roman Ingarden’s theory of scientific works to seed a coding family and adapting the method to ask relevant questions when analysing rich textual data. We have found that a guiding ontological theory, such as Ingarden’s, can be used to seed a coding family giving rise to a viable method for generating ontologies for research. This is significant because Grounded Theory may be one of the key methods for generating ontologies where substantial uniform quality text is available to the ontologist. We also present our partial analysis of information systems research.

Application of grounded theory to exploring multimedia design practices

This paper describes the application of Grounded Theory to an exploration of multimedia design practices. It discusses the opinions of multimedia developers, as elicited from interviews, on the selected design tasks and the processes employed in their completion. Our findings, which emerge from the analysis of the collected data, indicate that the currently available multimedia models do not address some of the important concerns of practitioners. We believe that closing the methodological gaps in these models would provide bettersupport for the multimedia development process.

The experiences of families of critically ill patients in Greece: A social constructionist grounded theory study

Background: The experiences of patients’ families in intensive care units (ICUs) are of international concern. In Greece however, adequate attention has not been paid to this issue.

Objective: To explore the experiences of critical care patients’ families in Greece.

Setting: The intensive care units of 3 general district hospitals in the area of Athens, Greece.

Methodology: The social constructionist version of grounded theory was used. In-depth interviews with 25 relatives of critically ill patients were carried out, and participant and non-participant observation was used to cross-validate the data obtained.

Results: Seven major categories were identified, with 32 components across all categories. The experiences of families revolved around the two core categories of “Intense Emotions” and “Vigilant Attendance”. The study conceptualised two new categories in this field, “Religiosity” and “Loss of Intimacy” and enhanced the category “Vigilant Attendance”. Three further categories were identified, namely “Caring”, “Dignity” and “Information”. The various interrelationships between the categories were also examined.

Conclusions: The study has examined the experience of Greek patients’ families from a qualitative perspective and suggests that major changes need to be made in terms of management and support.

Opting in and opting out: a grounded theory of nursings contribution to inpatient rehabilitation

Aim: To develop a grounded theory of nursing’s contribution to patient rehabilitation from the perspective of nurses working in inpatient rehabilitation.

Design: Grounded theory method, informed by the theoretical perspective of symbolic interactionism, was used to guide data collection and analysis, and the development of a grounded theory.

Setting: Five inpatient rehabilitation units in Australia.

Participants: Thirty-five registered and 18 enrolled nurses participated in audio-taped interviews and/or were observed during periods of their everyday practice.

Findings: The analysis revealed a situation whereby nurses made decisions about when to ‘opt in’ and when to ‘opt out’ of inpatient rehabilitation. This occurred on two levels: with their interaction with patients and allied health professionals, and when faced with negative system issues that impacted on their ability to contribute to patient rehabilitation. The primary contribution nurses made to inpatient rehabilitation was working directly with patients, enabling them to self-care. Nurses coached patients when their decisions about ‘opting in’ and ‘opting out’ were based on assessment of the person in their particular context. In contrast, the nurses mostly distanced themselves from system-based problems, ‘opting out’ of addressing them. They did this not to make their working lives easier, but more manageable.

Conclusion: System-based problems impacted negatively on the nurses’ ability to deliver comprehensive rehabilitation care. As a consequence, some nurses felt unable to influence the care and they withdrew professionally to make their work lives more manageable.

Blended learning in entrepreneurship education in the Asia-Pacific : a grounded theory approach to entrepreneurship pedagogy

Using a grounded theory approach, this pedagogical study explores “What are the key content areas and pedagogical interventions around which to build a blended learning method for Generation Y (also known as the Net Generation) entrepreneurship students (as opposed to other business students)?” The study uses a variety of “information-rich cases” and presents the argument that entrepreneurs learn
differently from other students. The author develops the Etappe Method of Training Entrepreneurs, a blended learning approach for the technology-savvy generation under the motto “Teaching is best done online and learning is best done in the classroom”. Drawing upon the theory of experiential learning as concretised by learning styles inventories, this learning method provides entrepreneurs, in their unique teachable moments, with active and concrete pedagogical interventions that can be enhanced through a blended learning environment of online and face-to-face modalities leading them step-by-step through deepening learning in the theory, process and practice of entrepreneurship. In conclusion, the author presents suggestions for further research that can verify this emerging theory in an empirical fashion.

Grounded theory of nursing's contribution to inpatient rehabilitation

There is growing awareness of the benefits of rehabilitation both in Australia and overseas. While the provision of rehabilitation services is not new, recognition of this type of health service as an integral part of health care has been linked to changes in the provision of acute care services, advances in medical technology, improvements in the management of trauma and an ageing population. Despite this, little attention has been paid to nursing's contribution to patient rehabilitation in Australia. The aim of this grounded theory study, therefore, was to collect and analyse nurses' reports of their contributions to patient rehabilitation and to describe and analyse contextual factors influencing that contribution. Data were collected during interviews with registered and enrolled nurses working in five inpatient rehabilitation units in New South Wales and during observation of the nurses' everyday practice. A total of 53 nurses participated in the study, 35 registered nurses and 18 enrolled nurses. Grounded theory, informed by the theoretical perspective of symbolic interactionism, was used to guide data analysis, the ongoing collection of data and the generation of a substantive theory. The findings revealed six major categories. One was an everyday problem labelled incongruence between nurses' and patients' understandings and expectations of rehabilitation. Another category, labelled coaching patients to self-care, described how nurses independently negotiated the everyday problem of incongruence. The remaining four categories captured conditions in the inpatient context which influenced how nurses could contribute to patient rehabilitation. Two categories, labelled segregation: divided and dividing work practices between nursing and allied health and role ambiguity, were powerful in shaping nursing's contribution as they acted individually and synergistically to constrain nursing's contribution to patient rehabilitation. The other two categories, labelled distancing to manage systemic constraints and grasping the nettle to realise nursing's potential, represent the mutually exclusive strategies nurses used in response to segregation and role ambiguity. From exploration of the relationship between the six categories, the core category and an interactive grounded theory called opting in and opting out emerged. In turn, this grounded theory reveals nursing's contribution to inpatient rehabilitation as well as contextual conditions constraining that contribution. The significance of these findings is made manifest through their contribution to the advancement of nursing knowledge and through implications for nursing practice and education, rehabilitation service delivery and research.

Exploring the dynamics of accountability relationships : a grounded theory approach

Examines accountability relationships within the organisational context of a local council. Results indicate that accountability is an intensely personal, complex, and context-bound phenomenon. A framework of accountability is suggested, linking the context and characteristics of accountability relationships with particular cognitive and emotive accountability outcomes.

A grounded theory for teaching entrepreneurship using simulation games

A practical teaching difficulty provided the opportunity to turn a problem into a useful case study with generic implications for the pedagogical effectiveness of simulation games in teaching entrepreneurship. Students playing the simulation game submitted written assessments that became the units of analysis for a single-case research project. Analysis produced a grounded theory consisting of four attribute categories and associated properties required of a simulation game to make it an effective teaching device in entrepreneurship contexts. The theory provides at the very least a useful checklist for teachers of entrepreneurship and, potentially, a basis for developing a quality standard for educational simulation games.