Grounded analytic research: Building theory from a body of research

Abstract

In this paper, we present Grounded Analytic Research (GAR) as a method to build theory by synthesizing empirical findings from multiple studies that has been conducted by a single researcher. GAR incorporates concepts from grounded theory, analytic research and systematic literature review. The method was applied in a doctoral dissertation work to build the theoretical concept of Demand Sustainability of public Internet access in the context of bridging the digital divide. We describe GAR and compare it with existing theory building methods that are similar to it in epistemology and ontology. © 2012 IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.