AMANDA HYNAN FINAL THESIS PDF

processes, types of sites used or the participant’s own profile information.
Observation also limited exploration of the meanings that people who use AAC may
attribute to their online activities (Bryman, 2001).
When considering phenomenology, as outlined in the earlier section on narrative and
humour (section 2.2.7), without prior preparation it is difficult and time consuming
for people who use AAC to create extensive narratives around their experiences in an
interpersonal situation, further confounded by possible challenges structuring
language and limited experience of speaking about themselves. Therefore, although it
was important to use interviews to satisfy the research objective to capture selfreported
experiences of the internet and online social media use it was recognised
these may not satisfy the expectations of a phenomenological approach which seeks
richly textured personal narratives.
The main attraction within the context of this study for using grounded theory was the
focus placed on theory generation. As little is known on the specified topic, the
research goal was to generate theory within this area and the flexibility regarding data
collection methods to pursue emergent categories was also considered desirable.
Further explanations of the suitability of this approach are outlined below in Table 2,
but firstly the origins of traditional grounded theory will be explored in more detail.
3.3.4. Traditional Grounded theory
Traditional grounded theory was developed by Glaser and Strauss (1967) and has dual
roots in symbolic interactionism (Strauss) and positivism (Glaser). Symbolic
interactionism has three main foundations: American pragmatism, German neo-
Kantianism and German historicism. Alvesson and Skoldberg (2009) summarise these
respectively as: the practical use of truth, the in depth study of individual cases and
prioritising a qualitative approach. Skeat and Perry (2008) summarise symbolic
interactionism as a philosophy that seeks to find meaning in social situations through
three core principles: people ascribe meaning to social reality; meaning is expressed
though symbols (language) and symbols are interpreted and modified by people’s
thoughts. They suggest that grounded theory is often summarised as an inductive
approach to theory formation from data. By using constant comparison to extract
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