Grounded Theory Methodology for the History of Sociology

Abstract

Historical research provides special challenges to sociological analysis because it focuses on the description of particular situations. This focus makes many traditional sociological methods difficult for historical work. The grounded theory approach developed by Glaser and Strauss (a form of comparative analysis) allows researchers to concentrate on understanding what happened in a set of particular circumstances while retaining the usefulness of relatively abstract analyses. This paper provides a rationale for historical analysis as “getting the story straight”, as well as suggestions for conducting an effective analysis.