Using Secondary Data for Grounded Theory Analysis

Abstract

Grounded theory is well utilised in qualitative research for building theoretical understanding of complex social processes. Grounded theory data analysis strategies can be used with different types of data, including secondary data. Despite the potential advantages of secondary data, it is rarely used for grounded theory studies, largely due to a perception that researchers are unable to follow the guidelines of this research design with data that they themselves have not collected. This paper demonstrates the use of secondary data in a study investigating the substantive area of Indigenous empowerment. Potential pitfalls and advantages of using grounded theory methods to analyse secondary data are discussed, as well as factors that facilitated the analytic process in this study. These factors included having a large data set across multiple sites and the use of literature as a source of data. The findings provide a valuable model for combining research and practise.

Keywords:

• Social Work Research
• Indigenous Research
• Empowerment

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the participants of Family Wellbeing who gave so generously of themselves through program evaluations. The research was undertaken through an NHMRC training scholarship for Indigenous Australian health research.

Notes

¹Pseudonyms are used throughout to protect privacy.