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Tiauitions: Beuuctive Qualitative Analysis anu uiounueu Theoiy2 !"+ 3--4 3'#,1$
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!"#$# &$# '&() uiffeient ways to geneiate theoiy. I have spent much of my
acauemic caieei attempting to unueistanu anu shaie with otheis how to use
qualitative methous to geneiate anu test theoiies anu to uo theoiy-guiueu ieseaich.
The woik of Ruben Bill, Wesley Buii, anu otheis (Buii, Bill, Nye, & Reiss (1979a &
b) in theoiy-builuing inspiieu me when I was a giauuate stuuent in human
uevelopment at Syiacuse 0niveisity. These scholais heaueu effoits to builu theoiy
thiough the couification of existing ieseaich anu theoiy. As a social woikei, I knew
thiough expeiience the impoitance of theoiy in unueistanuing complex human
situations. I also hau a natuial inclination to want to inteiact with othei people anu
to unueistanu them in theii own teims. I was intiigueu to see how ieseaich anu
theoiy woikeu in ieal-woilu situations. In auuition, I wanteu to contiibute new
unueistanuings of how people view anu ueal with theii life ciicumstances.
In giauuate school, I also leaineu about the methous anu methouologies
tiauitions at Chicago School of Sociology anu was uelighteu to leain that we can uo
ieseaich by talking to people, thiough paiticipant obseivation, anu thiough
uocument analysis. Ny uisseitation ieseaich moie than Su yeais ago was baseu on
piinciples associateu with the Chicago School, such as life histoiies, immeision,
unueistanuing peisons' accounts of theii expeiiences in context, immeision of
ieseaicheis in ieseaich settings, anu ieseaich as action-oiienteu. I have been a
scholai anu ieseaichei in this tiauition evei since.
As Beckei pointeu out, howevei, the Chicago School was "open to vaiious ways
of uoing sociology" (p. 1u). The iueas that I have woikeu with ovei the yeais aie pait
of the tiauition but uo not iepiesent the entiie tiauition. I elaboiate on these iueas
in the essays in this collection, especially in chaptei 19 about enuuiing themes. Ny
inteiests aie only one stieam of seveial ieseaich tiauitions. 0iban ethnogiaphies,
suivey ieseaich, anu iace ielations aie also pait of Chicago School tiauitions (Fine
199S), but I have not stuuieu them in any uetail.
The tiauitions of the Chicago School have enuuieu. The iueas aie not fixeu, but
aie flexible, open-enueu, anu subject to ievision, as many eaily ieseaicheis have
stateu, incluuing Ciessey (19Su, 19SS), Linuesmith (1947), Angell (19S6), anu
Znaniecki (19S4). Ny puipose is putting this collection of essays togethei is to shaie
the many geneiative iueas associateu with the Chicago School of Sociology, to show
theii evolution ovei time, anu to illustiate theii applicability to contempoiaiy social
issues. As a social woikei anu a family scholai, I wiote these essays foi publications
in family jouinals anu in social woik jouinals. The fielus aie ielateu anu have shaieu
auuiences with othei uisciplines, too, such as psychology, sociology, anu nuising.
This collection will be of inteiest to stuuents, new ieseaicheis, anu expeiienceu
ieseaicheis in these applieu uisciplines.

&(&*)!+, +(-.,!+/( is the oiiginal methouology of the Chicago School of
Sociology when it flouiisheu in the fiist quaitei of the twentieth centuiy. Biiefly, AI
involves the use of theoiy, often loosely uefineu, in the conuuct of ieseaich. Beckei
(1962), foi example, useu a foim of AI to uevelop a theoiy of maiijuana use. Nany of
the ieseaich piojects of both faculty anu stuuents uuiing that time anu latei stateu
that the methouological appioach was analytic inuuction (AI), when they nameu
theii appioach at all. By the miu-twentieth centuiy, AI hau fallen into uisiepute,
paitly because of misunueistanuings ielateu to causation anu univeisality of
finuings but also because of unfounueu claims that some ieseaicheis maue about
the ieach of the appioach. Betails of the contioveisies aie in some of the ieauings in
this volume, such as chapteis 11 anu 1S.
uiounueu theoiy methouology aiiiveu on the scene Su oi moie yeais latei anu
oveishauoweu AI. uiounueu theoiy methouology (uTN) was cautious about the use
of piioi theoiy, waining about the imposition of theoiy on finuing anu auvocating
that ieseaicheis allow theoiy to "emeige" fiom the analysis. uTN also maue no
claims about causation anu univeisality. It caiiieu on some of the Chicago School
tiauitions, such the impoitance of fieluwoik, unueistanuing meanings ieseaich
paiticipants attiibuteu to theii situations, the impoitance of unueistanuings
peisons in contexts, the uevelopment of theoiy fiom uata, anu the impoitance of
applieu ieseaich to effoits foi social change (chapteis 11 anu 2u anu uilgun, 2u1S,
in piess a & b).
uiounueu theoiy methouologists nevei saiu not to begin ieseaich with theoiy
but that became how many ieseaicheis unueistoou its pioceuuies. The uominance
of uTN anu especially the iuea that ieseaicheis must not begin with theoiy leu to an
unueiuevelopment of qualitative theoiy testing anu theoiy-guiueu ieseaich.
Fuitheimoie, uT methouologists have not auuiesseu the question of what to uo
with giounueu theoiies when we want to test them on new samples. Clues on the
use of piioi theoiy aie scatteieu thioughout the wiitings of ieseaicheis anu
methouologists who aie pait of the Chicago School of Sociology. To my knowleuge,
this collection of ieauings is the fiist attempt to biing these scatteieu clues togethei
anu to uevelop them fuithei.

+ ,/+(#- !"# !#$' .+./)(#7+ =/&*#(&(#7+ &,&*<$#$ aftei yeais of stuuying analytic
inuuction anu noticing how othei ieseaicheis use theoiy in theii ieseaich. As is
shown in seveial ieauings in this volume, I use this teim because analytic inuuction
is not inuuction at all, but a moving back anu foith between concepts anu theii
inuicatoisoi between theoiy anu uata. Bewey (191u) calleu this "complete
thinking" which involves both inuuction anu ueuuction. In ueuuctive woik,
ieseaicheis begin with theoiy. "Complete thinking," also iequiies ieseaicheis to put
asiue theii theoiy to iuentify aspects of the phenomena of inteiest that they uiu not
anticipate. The lattei is inuuction. They even puiposely seaich foi uata that piomise
to unueimine anu thus flesh out theii emeiging finuings. This is calleu negative case
analysis, uiscusseu in uetail in seveial chapteis in this volume, incluuing chapteis 6,
7, 1u, 11, 1S, anu 19. Theie is a movement back anu foith between ueuuction anu
inuuction. I also chose the teim .+./)(#7+ =/&*#(&(#7+ &,&*<$#$ because of the spoileu
iuentity of analytic inuuction. Anselm Stiauss, one of the oiiginatois of uTN, wiote
the fiist essay in this volume. Be saiu uTN is a "way of thinking," which shows the
connection of uTN to Bewey anu the piagmatist philosophy that Bewey helpeu
uevelop (uilgun, 2uuS).
I want BQA to have moie piominence foi seveial ieasons. Fiist of all, many
qualitative ieseaicheis begin theii ieseaich with theoiy but uon't have a name foi
what they uo. They ciaft theii ieseaich this way because it makes sense to them;
they simply aie theoietically oiienteu. I, foi example, useu life couise theoiy as the
conceptual fiamewoik foi my uisseitation ieseaich without self-consciousness.
Theoiy guiueu me in both uesign anu analysis. It seemeu natuial anu noimal. As I
show in seveial essays in this volume, most if not all ieseaicheis touay have tiaining
in logico-ueuuctive methous, which means they leain to begin ieseaich with
liteiatuie ieviews anu to test hypotheses anu to use concepts. The pioceuuies of
BQA guiue ieseaicheis in the use of theoiy fiom the beginning of a qualitative
ieseaich pioject.
In auuition, uisseitation committees anu funueis aie unlikely to give the okay to
piojects anu to funu them if they uon't know what the ieseaicheis intenu to uo anu
how they aie going to uo it. Conceptual fiamewoiks, composeu of liteiatuie ieviews
anu ieflexivity statements, aie the souices of hypotheses anu initial guiuing
concepts, as well as the founuation of uesign anu analysis. The uesign anu the
concepts useu in the analysis typically evolve ovei the couise of the ieseaicheis, but
gatekeepeis such as funueis anu uisseitation committees unueistanuably want as
much infoimation as possible about the plans foi the pioject.
Finally, policy, BQA can contiibute to theoiies anu finuings that piogiams,
policies anu piactitioneis can use to guiue them in theii actions. Finuings iepiesent
the peispectives of those foi whom policies, piogiams, anu inteiventions aie
ciafteu. Effectiveness uepenus on whethei they meet people wheie they aie.
In auuition, finuings often aie composeu of stoiies that may help policy makeis,
piogiam planneis, anu uiiect piactitioneis unueistanu the peisons they aie
positioneu to seive. Stoiies may bieak thiough the assumptions anu biases that aie
built into many policies, piogiams, anu inteiventions. In my own fielu of social
woik, I have seen piactitioneis anu policy makeis act on the basis of peisonal
piefeiences anu beliefs without challenging themselves to look foi auuitional points
of view anu multiple souices of eviuence. In auuition to stoiies, BQA piouuces
theoiy that aie piinciples that can be useu as guiuelines foi actions in a vaiiety of
situations. The guiuelines aie iooteu in the stoiies of ieal people anu so will have
ieauy applicability to human situations.

&() ,/**#,!+/( /0 $#*&!#- #11&)1 have iepetitions acioss them. This is so in
the piesent volume. Since some of the iueas go against contempoiaiy tienus,
iepetition may aiue in assimilating the iueas anu then in changing minus anu beliefs
about the conuuct of qualitative ieseaich. Qualitative theoiy testing, foi example,
may be new to some ieseaicheis.
This chaptei in the appenuix is an example of qualitative hypothesis testing. Theie
aie fai too few of them, but piospect aie biight. Contempoiaiy ieseaicheis aie
pushing back against cuiient thought anu piactice of qualitative appioaches. 0ne
iesult will be incieaseu numbeis of piojects anu papeis baseu upon BQA.
Except foi the aiticle in the appenuix, I aiiangeu the essays in this volume in the
oiuei in which I wiote them. I uiu this to invite ieaueis into the intellectual jouiney
I took in oiuei to unueistanu how I came to see the ioles BQA coulu have in social
anu human sciences ieseaich. The chionological oiuei of the iueas shows the
evolution of my unueistanuings ovei time anu thiough expeiience. I wiote all of the
essays in the volume expect that fiist wheie Anselm Stiauss is the authoi.

}ane F. uilgun
Ninneapolis, Ninnesota, 0SA
1S Nay 2u14

$232425627

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