Visual Grounded Theory: a new way of seeing, knowing, and constructing theories grounded in data.

The purpose of this chapter is to share insights on using visual grounded theory, a modified version of constructivist grounded theory, incorporating visual data collection and analysis (Ridge, 2020), which I used for a doctoral study investigating professional identity in adult nursing in the UK. The trigger for this investigation began while working as a nurse academic in higher education. I witnessed a disconnect among nursing students between their aspirations and the perceived reality of what it means to be an adult nurse. Repeatedly hearing from those withdrawing from their programme of studies, that this ‘wasn’t what nursing is …’, caused me to wonder, ‘so, what is it that they think nursing is?’ This led me to embark on my investigation of what it means to construct and sustain a professional identity in adult nursing, aspects of which are shared here. It was also important to me to try something new and different, such as using an unorthodox methodology. I am not saying it is easy to create something new, different, or novel, as change is often uncomfortable, but how do we challenge ourselves without it? With that said, my intention is to provide insight into my experiences of constructing a visual grounded theory. A context to the study, its purpose, and application is given, alongside justification for decisions made methodologically. A distillation of visual grounded theory’s philosophical, theoretical, and methodological origins is provided for insight and application of this little-known methodology, with worked examples of ‘the interconnectivity of tools for analysis’ (Ridge, 2017) from my doctoral study to aid understanding. The chapter concludes with a critical reflection on using this methodology. At this point you will hopefully have a sense of enlightenment as to what this creative method has to offer.

References:

Ridge, J.A. (2017) ‘The interconnectivity of tools for analysis: combining textual
and visual data to construct a substantive theory of professional identity of adult nursing’, Paper presented at the Royal College of Nursing International Nursing Research Conference, 7 April, University of Oxford Examination School, Oxford.

Ridge, J.A. (2020) ‘Authentic identity: a visual grounded theory of construction
and sustainability of professional identity in adult nursing’, PhD thesis, University of Northampton.