Lessons Learned From the Glaserian Grounded Theory Approach: Professionalizing as a Basic Social Process in Elite Athletes’ Lifestyle

Abstract

This paper presents a qualitative study conducted using the Glaserian grounded theory (GT) method. Glaser’s approach to GT differs from Strauss and Corbin’s method, which is more widespread. There are some differences in the focus on participants’ concerns, staying in the research environment for an extended period to discover participants’ main concerns and the emergence of a basic social process around the core category. The Glaserian GT method was used to understand elite athletes’ lifestyles. Two groups of athletes and non-athletes were recruited for the interview as the sample. The core category was determined through iterative coding, memoing, theoretical sampling, and theoretical sorting. There were overlaps in these phases; they fluctuated back and forth and were not as clear-cut as they could be. Results showed the lifestyle components of elite athletes. Besides identifying participants’ main concerns, the results also demonstrated how to address them over time. It is a category of a basic social process named “professionalizing.” Lastly, the steps of creating a concept map are explained practically, which in addition to sports science scholars, can be considered by researchers in other fields.