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Doing Constructivist Grounded Theory Research

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Abstract

This chapter offers a short introduction to some of the main points of constructivist grounded theory (CGT), including its philosophical background and history, the basic elements of CGT data collection and analysis, and its role in qualitative research. In counselling and psychotherapy research, the world view, meanings and actions of the people we study are of central concern. CGT provides a methodology for placing these elements at the forefront of theory development. CGT also encourages reflexivity in relation to the person of the researcher and the co-constructed nature of research. These are elegant and useful elements of the methodology in a field where theory is so central to practice and yet where the process of its creation is often left implicit. Hopefully this chapter will prompt you to read more and consider using CGT to develop theories of your own.

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Langley, E. (2020). Doing Constructivist Grounded Theory Research. In: Bager-Charleson, S., McBeath, A. (eds) Enjoying Research in Counselling and Psychotherapy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55127-8_6

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