It feels as though I might have almost completed my first or perhaps more realistically my first mile in a marathon, or a first staging post. Either way, I find myself slightly surprised that I have reached this far whilst the majority of the world has been in lockdown. It is exciting to see possibla patterns starting to develop from the data. I have come to realise that you can read and read and read about Grounded Theory - I have - but it is not until you actually start to do it, that is when you start to learn and to become entranced as patters develop. My first impression is that I don't trust the patterns, I think I may be seeing them because I want to see them, because they might fit a pre-determined unconscioius bias. The beauty of Constructivist Grounded Theory is that I am consciously aware of the fact that I am part of this work and that my interepretations need to be revisited constantly and challenged by further data. The following is a reflection I have written in my research journal that encapsulates some of that ongoing and iterative work. I hope it does anyway :)
.......................This next entry in my research journal is my reflection on coding at this point in time. I have completed initial coding for my first 8 inteviews and have decided to carry out a further interview planned for tomorrow. Despite my protocol indicating I would aim for 8, it has boceme clear to me that I need to carry out this further interview which I have completed via theoretical sampling. I have completed 8 interviews for thought leaders and influencers and have one more planned for tommorrow. In my research protocol I initially planned to interview 8 thought leaders and influencers however, however, my 8th interview was with a physiotherapist thought leader and influencer and it was noticeable the depth of frustration she felt with the limitations of physiotherapy independent prescribing and some concerns about the overmedicalisation of physiotherapy. I therefore decided it was important to seek out another physiotherapist for thought leaders and found a programme leader at a physiotherapy pre reg programme. It will be useful to see if they share the sense of frustration. The depth of frustration from interviewee 8 is indicated by 21 coded phrases that reflect frustration, all from one interview. Comparing this to the highest frequency codes of "new ways of working", "evaluation vision" and "professional identity issues" were the frequency of respective codes equate to 50, 48 and 45 respectively found in 6-8 interviews. There appear to be 7-8 codes that are beginning to become key codes at present. After this last interview I will spend time completing reflections on each interview and then create a poster for the interviews with members of the public. I will also evaluate the topic guide for the next set of interviews taking into account the findings from the first set of data collected.
See you soon I hope, Stay safe and stay well.