The Grounded Theory Review:

An international journal
Volume 4, Issue no. 3, June 2005

Basic Social Processes

Barney G. Glaser, Ph.D., Hon. Ph.D. with the assistance of
Judith Holton

Adventuring: A grounded theory discovered

through the analysis of science teaching and
learning
Katrina M. Maloney, M.Sc., Ed.D.

Doing Best for Children: An emerging grounded

theory of parents’ policing strategies to regulate
between meal snacking
Ruth Freeman, Ph.D., Richard Ekins, Ph.D. & Michele
Oliver, M.Med.Sc.

Managing Collaborative Synergy in the Crane

Industry
Keith Ng Y.N., Ph.D.

The Grounded Theory Bookshelf

Alvita Nathaniel, DSN, APRN, BC

Sociology Press
P.O. Box 400
Mill Valley, CA
USA 94942
Tel: 415 388 8431
Fax: 415 381 2254
The Grounded Theory Review (2005) vol. 4, no. 3

The Grounded Theory Review:

An international journal
Editor-In-Chief Publisher
Judith Holton Barney G. Glaser, Ph.D., Hon. Ph.D.
10 Edinburgh Drive Sociology Press
Charlottetown, PE P.O. Box 400
CANADA C1A 3E8 Mill Valley, CA
Tel: 902 566 5837 U.S.A. 94941
Email: Email:
[email protected] [email protected]

Peer Review Editors

Tom Andrews, Ph.D. Antoinette M. McCallin, Ph.D., RN
School of Nursing and Midwifery Senior Lecturer, Research, MHSc
University College Cork Division of Health Care Practice
Cork, Ireland Faculty of Health Science
Email: [email protected] Auckland University of Technology
Email: [email protected]

Barry Gibson, Ph.D.

Lecturer in Medical Sociology Alvita Nathaniel, DSN, APRN, BC
Department of Oral Health and Coordinator, Nurse Practitioner Track
Development School of Nursing
School of Clinical Dentistry West Virginia University
Claremont Crescent Email: [email protected]
Sheffield, UK
S10 2TA
Email: b.j.gibson@sheffield.ac.uk Mark S. Rosenbaum, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Marketing
Research Director, Center for Retail
Cheri Ann Hernandez, RN, Ph.D., CDE Excellence
Associate Professor University of Hawaii
Faculty of Nursing College of Business Administration
University of Windsor Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]

Hans Thulesius, GP, Ph.D.

Vivian B. Martin, Ph.D. FoU-centrum
Assistant Professor Jacob Lundhs vag 2, Box 1223
Department of English (Journalism 351 12 Vaxjo, Sweden
Program) Email: [email protected]
Central Connecticut State University
Email: [email protected]

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The Grounded Theory Review (2005) vol. 4, no. 3

The Grounded Theory Review:

An international journal
Volume 4, Issue no. 3, June 2005

Contents
Publisher’s Note .................................................................. p. iv
Editor’s Comments.............................................................. p. iv

Basic Social Processes

Barney G. Glaser, Ph.D., Hon. Ph.D.
with the assistance of Judith Holton .................................... p. 1

Adventuring: A grounded theory discovered through the

analysis of science education and teaching
Katrina M. Maloney, Ph.D...................................................... p. 29

Doing Best for Children: An emerging grounded theory of

parents’ policing strategies to regulate between meal snacking
Ruth Freeman, Ph.D., Richard Ekins, Ph.D. & Michele Oliver,
M.Med.Sc. ............................................................................ p. 59

Managing Collaborative Synergy in the Crane Industry

Keith Ng Y.N., Ph.D. .............................................................. p. 81

The Grounded Theory Bookshelf

Alvita Nathaniel, Ph.D. .......................................................... p. 103

ii
The Grounded Theory Review (2005) vol. 4, no. 3

The Grounded Theory Review:

An international journal

Publisher’s Note

Sociology Press is pleased to publish The Grounded Theory

Review. Our primary goal in publishing this journal is to provide
a forum for classic grounded theory scholarship. To this end,
we will focus our efforts on:

publishing good examples of the grounded theories being
developed in a wide range of disciplines

publishing papers on classic grounded theory methodology

creating a world-wide network of grounded theory
researchers and scholars

providing a forum for sharing perspectives and enabling
novice grounded theorists to publish their work

promoting dialogue between authors and readers of the
journal

- Barney G. Glaser, Ph.D., Hon. Ph.D.

Editor’s Comments

One of our goals in this journal is to present the work of novice

grounded theorists so it is a pleasure to feature three such
papers in this issue. The fact that the three papers come from
three distinct disciplines and three different continents is a
testament to the broad application and interest in grounded
theory. The three papers also illustrate the developmental
learning curve of classic grounded theory (GT).

Katrina Maloney’s paper on Adventuring takes us into the

substantive field of science education and offers a rich
conceptual description of an emergent core concept, detailing

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The Grounded Theory Review (2005) vol. 4, no. 3

its dimensions and sub-categories. Maloney suggests that

her theory challenges current thinking and theory in science
education and offers insight into changes necessary to
enhance the field. She hints as well at the transcendent
potential of her core category beyond science education.
Her paper is an excellent start at GT that could be enhanced
by further conceptual memoing, hand sorting and emergent
theoretical coding to integrate her core and related concepts
into a grounded theory with appropriate parsimony and scope.

In the paper on Doing Best for Children, we see a similar

stage of conceptual development. Here authors Ruth
Freeman and colleagues Richard Ekins and Michele Oliver,
readily acknowledge the limitations of their study as part
of a larger qualitative research project with a preconceived
professional concern that limited their ability to employ the full
scope of classic GT procedures and, as such, hindered the
emergence of a full grounded theory. Nevertheless, Freeman
and colleagues have offered us a most interesting “emerging
theory” that suggests a typology of sugar snacking regulation
strategies. Their paper demonstrates how the imposition of
a preconceived professional concern on a research study
can mask what’s really going on. However, their awareness
of classic GT and their ability to utilize even selected GT
procedures in coding and analyzing the study data enabled the
emergence of the main concern of parents interviewed – doing
best for their children – and offers several responses to doing
so. Given the increasing concern with childhood obesity, their
emerging theory warrants further development.

Keith Ng’s theory of Managing Collaborative Synergy proposes

a basic social process (BSP) that explains how managers
in the crane manufacturing industry develop collaborative
strategies for optimizing their respective corporate interests.
His theory suggests a three phase process that explains the
how managers position their firms within the industry, develop
confidence in potential inter-firm partnerships and consolidate
their collaboration to achieve long-term mutual benefits.

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The Grounded Theory Review (2005) vol. 4, no. 3

Theoretical coding remains a mystery for some and a

challenge for many in doing GT so we are pleased to round
out this issue with two papers that explore this issue in more
depth. First, to refresh our understanding of perhaps the most
widely utilized theoretical code in GT; we present a classic
paper by Dr. Glaser on Basic Social Processes. The paper is
an updated version of an earlier paper that was published as
Chapter 6 of Theoretical Sensitivity (Glaser, 1978). Lastly,
in the Grounded Theory Bookshelf, Dr. Alvita Nathaniel offers
an insightful review of Dr Glaser’s new book, The Grounded
Theory Perspective III: Theoretical Coding (Glaser, 2005).

- Judith Holton

Submissions
All papers submitted are peer reviewed and comments
provided back to the authors. Papers accepted for publication
will be good examples or practical applications of grounded
theory and classic grounded theory methodology.

Comments on papers published are also welcomed, will be

shared with the authors and may be published in subsequent
issues of the Review.
See our website www.groundetheoryreview.com for full
submission guidelines.

Forward submissions as Word documents to Judith Holton at

[email protected]

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The Grounded Theory Review (2005) vol. 4, no. 3

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An international journal Order Form
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The Grounded Theory Review (2005) vol. 4, no. 3

Basic Social Processes

By Barney G. Glaser, Ph.D., Hon.Ph.D.
with the assistance of Judith Holton

Abstract

The goal of grounded theory is to generate a theory that accounts for a

pattern of behavior that is relevant and problematic for those involved.
The goal is not voluminous description, nor clever verification. As with
all grounded theory, the generation of a basic social process (BSP)
theory occurs around a core category. While a core category is always
present in a grounded research study, a BSP may not be.

BSPs are ideally suited to generation by grounded theory from

qualitative research because qualitative research can pick up process
through fieldwork that continues over a period of time. BSPs are a
delight to discover and formulate since they give so much movement
and scope to the analyst’s perception of the data. BSPs such as
cultivating, defaulting, centering, highlighting or becoming, give the
feeling of process, change and movement over time. They also have
clear, amazing general implications; so much so, that it is hard to
contain them within the confines of a single substantive study. The
tendency is to refer to them as a formal theory without the necessary
comparative development of formal theory. They are labeled by
a “gerund”(“ing”) which both stimulates their generation and the
tendency to over-generalize them.

In this paper, we shall first discuss the search for, and criteria of, core
variables (categories) and how they relate to BSPs. Then we go on to
a section on several central characteristics of basic social processes.
Lastly, we discuss the relative merits of unit vs. process sociology.

Core Category and Basic Social Process (BSP)

While grounded theory can use any theoretical codes, the basic social
process (BSP) is a popular one. As with all grounded theory, the
generation of a BSP theory occurs around a core category. While a
core category is always present in a grounded research study, a BSP
may not be. BSPs are just one type of core category—thus all BSPs
are core variables (categories), but not all core variables are BSPs.
The primary distinction between the two is that BSPs are processural

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or, as we say, they “process out.” They have two or more clear
emergent stages. Other core categories may not have stages, but can
use other theoretical codes.

Without a core category, an effort at grounded theory will drift in

relevancy and workability. Since a core category accounts for most
of the variation in a pattern of behavior, it has several important
functions for generating theory. It is relevant and works. Most other
categories and their properties are related to it, rendering the core
category subject to much qualification and modification because it is
so dependent on what is going on in the action. In addition, through
these relations between categories and their properties, the core has
the prime function of integrating the theory and rendering the theory
dense and saturated as the relationships increase.

These functions then lead to theoretical completeness—accounting

for as much variation in a pattern of behavior with as few concepts
as possible, thereby maximizing parsimony and scope. Clearly
integrating a theory around a core variable delimits the theory and
thereby the research project.

Upon choosing a core category, the first delimiting analytic rule of

grounded theory comes into play. Only variables that are related to
the core will be included in the theory. Another delimiting function
of the core category occurs in its necessary relation to resolving
the problematic nature of the pattern of behavior to be accounted
for. Without a focus on how the core category resolves, solves or
processes the problem, the analysis can drift to accounting for
irrelevancies in the pattern, instead of being forced to conceptually
integrate the relevant categories around the main concern.
Yet another delimiting function of a core category is its requirement that
the analyst focus on one core at a time. Thus, if two core categories are
discovered—or one worked on before another emerges—the analyst
can choose one, being sure of its relevance. S/he then demotes the
other by filtering it into the theory as a relevant “near core”—but not
core—variable. Thus, in Time for Dying (Glaser & Strauss, 1968), we
included ideas about awareness, but only insofar as they affected
time. And in Awareness of Dying (Glaser & Strauss), 1967, we did the
reverse. By this method, the analyst can be sure that the other core
does not disappear. It can still take a central focus in another writing.
Many studies yield two or (sometimes) three core variables. To try to
write about them all at once with no relative emphasis is to denude

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each of its powerful theoretical functions.

Discovering the core category is our grounded answer to the perennial
research problem of “which focus.” This focus cannot fail, since it is
systematically generated, by a sentence-by-sentence grounding in its
capacity to be relevant and to work. In contrast, to core a study and
its theory around a “pet” sociological interest or a logically elaborated
interest from scholarly writings can easily miss on the many functions
mentioned above. Since it is not grounded, there is no assurance that
it will integrate any other categories or properties or account for any
or sufficient variation in a behavioral pattern. Nothing—or not much—
may emerge as related. Plus, it derails the analyst from discovering the
true core. Thus the analyst cannot start a grounded theory study with
preconceived notions, from whatever source—even grounded—about
what will work in a specific project. The focus must emerge on its own
to do justice to the data, while accounting for significant variation in
problematic behavior.

Discovering Core Categories

Looking: First, the analyst should consciously look for a core variable
when coding his data. As s/he constantly compares incidents and
concepts s/he will generate many codes, while being alert to the one
or two that are core. S/he is constantly looking for the “main theme,”
for what—in his or her view—is the main concern or problem for the
people in the setting; for that which sums up, in a pattern of behavior,
the substance of what is going on in the data, for what is the essence
of relevance reflected in the data, for categories (gerunds) which bring
out process and change (two properties of BSPs).

As the analyst asks these questions while coding, analyzing and

theoretically sampling, s/he becomes sensitized to the potential
answers. Possible core categories should be given a “best fit”
conceptual label as soon as possible so the analyst has a handle
for thinking of them. The analyst may have a feel for what the core
variable is, but be unable to formulate a concept that fits well. It is OK
to use a label, which is a poor fit until a better fit eventually comes.
As the analyst develops several workable coded categories, s/he
should begin early to saturate as much as possible those that seem
to have explanatory power. This way s/he will see which category is
related to as many other categories and their properties as possible.
S/he theoretically samples to maximize differences in the data to help
saturate the categories. This is relatively easy with quantitative data.

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The analyst need only run possible core categories against all other
variables to see how much each relates to others. With qualitative
data, it is more difficult since these relations must be kept track of in
memos, which get spread out until sorted. The core category must
be proven over and over again by its prevalent relationship to other
categories thereby integrating them into a whole.
When the analyst starts coding, categories tend to emerge quickly,
giving the appearance of finding core categories. But the analyst
should be suspect of these as core. It takes time and much coding
and analysis to verify a core category through saturation, relevance
and workability. It always happens that a category will emerge from
among many and “core out”—but it happens “eventually”! And, even
then the analyst may still feel s/he is taking a chance on selecting
what the core variable is, until it is finally proven by sorting data into
a theory that works. The more data, the more sure the analyst can
become of saturation, relevance, workability and integratability of the
chosen core. Time and data can be expensive; in smaller studies
an analyst often has to take chances. Certainly, deciding on a core
category tests the analyst’s skill and abilities. If s/he acts too quickly
on a thin amount of data, the analyst risks ending up with a large array
of loosely integrated categories, and a thin, undeveloped theory with
little explanatory power.
Criteria: It is helpful to sum up the criteria by which an analyst can
make judgments as to the core category.
1. It must be central; that is, related to as many other categories
and their properties as possible and more than other
candidates for the core category. This criterion of centrality
is a necessary condition to making it core. It indicates that
it accounts for a large portion of the variation in a pattern of
behavior.
2. It must reoccur frequently in the data. By its frequent
reoccurrence, it comes to be seen as a stable pattern and
becomes increasingly related to other variables. If it does not
reoccur a lot, it does not mean the category is uninteresting. It
may be quite interesting in its own right, but it just means it is
not core.
3. By being related to many other categories and reoccurring
frequently, it takes more time to saturate the core category
than other categories.
4. It relates meaningfully and easily with other categories. These
connections need not be forced; rather, their realization

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comes quickly and richly.

5. A core category in a substantive study has clear and grabbing
implication for formal theory. The analyst can talk of hospital
shifts and immediately realize the implications of shifts as a
basic social condition in any twenty-four-hour-a-day work
operation and start to conceive of generating a formal theory
of work shifts.
6. Based on the above criteria, the core category has
considerable carry-through. By this, we mean it does not lead
to dead ends in the theory nor leave the analyst high and dry;
rather, it gets him/her through the analyses of the processes
s/he is working on by its relevance and explanatory power.
S/he literally carries through his analysis based on the core’s
use.
7. It is completely variable. Its frequent relations to other
categories make it highly dependently variable in degree,
dimension and type. Conditions vary it easily. It is readily
modifiable through these dependent variations.
8. While accounting for variation in the problematic behavior, a
core category is also a dimension of the problem. Thus, in
part, it explains itself and its own variation. While “becoming”
a nurse explains the process that student nurses go through
in relation to their training and their interaction with nursing
faculty, it also in part explains why a nurse becomes a nurse.
They engage in becoming to become, while becoming
also explains how they handle those largely responsible
for formalizing their entrance to the profession (Olesen &
Whittaker, 1968).
9. The criteria above generate such a rich core category that, in
turn, they tend to prevent two other sources of establishing
a core which are not grounded but, without grounding, could
easily occur: (1) sociological interest and (2) deductive,
logical elaboration. These two sources can easily lead to
core categories that do not fit the data and are not sufficiently
relevant or workable.
10. The above criteria also generate a false criterion. Because it
has so much grab and explanatory power, the analyst begins
to see the core category in all relations, whether grounded
or not in the data. While serving as a positive indicator of
the core, this logical switch must be guarded against so
that relationships among categories are earned through

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emergence and not forced upon the data through deductive

logic.
11. The core category can be any kind of theoretical code: a
process, a condition, two dimensions, a consequence and so
forth. When it is a process, additional criteria also apply.

The “Process Out” Requirement of BSPs

Once the analyst becomes theoretically sensitized to the search

for core categories and those that process out, discovering core
categories—and BSPs in particular—becomes natural. Indeed, we
have found that analysts must be careful about tacking a gerund on
to any core variable and treating it like a process when, in fact, it does
not process out. For example, in one study, “shifting” was seen as
a BSP. After review, we found no stages and reconceptualized it as
“shifts”—a basic social structural condition confronting people and
organizations that have a twenty-four-hour-a-day operation.

The “process out” requirement of—at minimum—two clear, emergent

stages requires that the stages should differentiate and account
for variations in the problematic pattern of behavior. If not, the
stages collapse conceptually and there is no BSP. For example,
in information-gaining processes, the stages of playing completely
naive, playing mildly informed but needing correction, and finally,
playing knowledgeable, each results in a different interaction pattern
in bidding subcontractors. In this sense, a BSP processes a social
or social psychological problem from the point of view of continuing
social organization. Irrespective of whether it solves the problem, to
some degree, it processes it.
A process is something that occurs over time and involves change over
time. These changes over time ordinarily have discernable breaking
points—discernable to the extent that stages can be perceived, so
they can be treated as theoretical units in themselves, with conditions,
consequences (which may be another stage), other properties, and
so forth which are unique in form to each particular stage. Stages are
perceivable, because they sequence with one another within certain
temporal limits. Sets of codes related to these stages may “carry
forward” into one or more stages further on in the process.
Stages may be in vivo (generally perceivable by those persons
involved), or purely heuristic (generally not perceivable by the persons

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involved, but demarcated by the sociologist for theoretical reasons), or

some shade in between. If the stages are built into the social structure,
they and their transition points will likely be clearly perceived by social
actors (e.g. receiving a diploma, passing a course of study, getting a
promotion from “worker” to “supervisor”, and so forth). Conversely,
stages that are perceivable before one goes through them would likely
be built into a social structure (Glaser & Strauss, 1971). However,
stages not determined by social structure can also be perceived by
social actors (“When they started joking with me I knew I was in”).
In some instances, stages may be perceivable by social actors only
after they have been through them. This would likely be the case with
stages that are marked by common sense indicators and such.
Some stages may be learned as persons go through them. For
example, milkmen, when learning to “cultivate,” learn from their co-
workers that a particular stage in cultivating a relationship is reached
when the customer routinely offers the milkman a cup of coffee (Bigus,
1972). This is, the novice learns, a “coffee stop” and is considered
the last and most successful stage of a relationship, if the customer
is worth it in monetary return. The novice is informed in one way or
another that when this occurs, he no longer need worry about the
relationship to the extent that he does others, and that “coffee stops”
will perform certain functions for him—a place to go to the bathroom,
a place to get a payment when one is needed, and so forth.
Stages, if perceivable by social actors, may be brought about by
their conscious intentions. Again, the milkman: once he learns about
the “coffee stop” stage, he consciously sets about cultivating to get
particular customers (the large ones) to that stage. Other stages,
particularly those demarcated by institutionalization, begin and end
without conscious effort on the part of participants.
A person may perceive the events that make up stages of a process
he is going through without perceiving the overall process or any
particular stages. These events may be perceived as idiosyncratic—
events that are unique to his own experience—rather than as stages
of a social process which many persons go through. A sociologist,
however, can perceive the stages because he studies large numbers
of individual histories and sees as social what individuals may see as
personal.
The development into stages prevents a BSP theory from being
static—a condition ordinarily found in most types of theory. It allows
one to follow changes over time, yet remain in grasp of a theoretically
“whole” process—which has a beginning and an end. When the stages

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and their properties, conditions, consequences, and so forth are

integrated into the “whole” process, when each stage’s relationship
to the process and to the other stages—how they affect it, shape it,
and so forth—are integrated, then the process can be conceptually
followed from stage to stage, the change over time being theoretically
accounted for, without the imagery of the overall process being lost.
This allows a reader to momentarily focus on the dense codes without
losing grasp of the larger scope of the BSP theory.
Stages, then, function as an integrating scheme with which to tie
together various sets of conditions, properties, etc. in a manner that
allows for a high amount of densification and integration. At the same
time, stages allow for conceptual grab and tractability as well as the
theoretical tracing of and accounting for change over time.
Stages have a time dimension; that is, they have a perceivable
beginning and end. The length of time between these points may
or may not be fixed. In one instance, a stage may always be of
fixed duration. In another, it may last several days or weeks. This
will depend upon what brings about the transition from one stage to
another. If the length of a stage is determined by institutional timing,
for instance, it could always be of the same duration. The length of
time a stage lasts could also be determined by events that do not
occur according to a time schedule. A stage in a “residential career,”
for instance, could be determined by the move from renting to buying
a home. Thus, the renting stage (if such a stage were developed)
could last several months or many years.
The transition from one stage to another is ordinarily contingent
upon one or more things happening (e.g. the decision to purchase a
house—as above). This contingency may be in the form of a critical
juncture (Strauss, 1969) - a period of time between stages when
the occurrence or non-occurrence of a particular critical event (or
whatever) will determine whether a new stage is entered (a stage
is skipped, one of several possible stages is entered, etc.) or the
previous stage is maintained. For example, exploratory surgery in
search of cancer could be such a critical juncture. If cancer is found,
the beginning stage of a dying trajectory or a recovery trajectory
(depending upon the severity of the cancer) may be entered. If cancer
is not found, a diagnosing stage may be returned to.
The transition from one stage to another may not be as clear as it is
when a contingency or a critical juncture marks it. It may, instead, be
marked by a general set of indicators in such a way that the transition
point is somewhat blurry. For example, an “acceptance” stage may

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be entered around the general time that insiders begin to allow a

newcomer to joke about the group, let him attend insider affairs,
disclose “secrets” to him, and so forth. An exact time of transition
may be impossible (or arbitrary) to pin down, but the transition may
be obvious later after a short period of time, through the gradual
occurrence and clarity of a set of indicators.
We now turn to a discussion of further characteristics of BSPs. Much
of what we shall say in the next section applies in general to all core
categories, except when the property specifically refers to process.

More about the Basic Social Process

Stages, as we have just seen, are the prime property of BSPs,

however there are several other defining properties: pervasiveness,
full variability and change over-time. BSPs are pervasive since
they are fundamental, patterned processes in the organization of
social behaviors which occur over time and go on irrespective of the
conditional variation of place.
The pervasiveness of such core processes gives rise to the word
basic in BSP. BSPs, then, are more than just heuristic devices that
allow sociologists to conceptually order the social world. BSPs
are theoretical reflections and summarizations of the patterned,
systematic uniformity flows of social life that people go through, and
which can be conceptually “captured” and further understood through
the construction of BSP theories.
No matter what the sociologist does, s/he cannot alter the basic
substantive patterns of the process. S/he can only apply whichever
theoretical codes best illuminate variations in what is going on. Not all
persons go through a process in the same manner; that is to say, there
is much variation. But, a BSP theory can uncover what condition or
variables give rise to particular variation and can therefore theoretically
account for them. For example, “becoming” is basic, occurs over time,
and is still becoming no matter where it occurs, and irrespective of
how it is varied by current conditions. So, for instance, there’s a basic
pattern or process to becoming a nurse, regardless of variation in
individual experiences.
The pervasiveness of BSPs, due to their fundamentality to social
organization makes them necessary, unavoidable processes,
irrespective of variations. However, social organization itself being
sets of infinitely variable conditions makes BSPs fully variable. By
this, we mean that although BSPs are activated through the units of

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social organization, they are abstract of any specific unit’s structure

and can vary sufficiently to go on in other, very different units. Thus,
recruitment processes go on no matter what the social unit; people
are continually brought into units or eventually the units disappear.
As such, their full variability makes BSPs independent of structural
units: that is, free of their time and place and the perspective of their
participants and fully generalizable as abstract processes to be found
anywhere they may emerge.
As an analytic unit, BSPs receive relative emphasis over the structural
unit in which they are analyzed. The essential point is that, for
example, we focus on becoming processes when talking of nursing
education, not on the structured unit—the school—in which the study
took place. The school is merely a set of varying conditions of a
becoming process.
The full variability and generality of BSPs transcend the nature of
any structural unit and hence, unit-focused theories. They transcend
the boundaries of unit analyses as we understand the general, basic
processes that shape people’s lives instead of solely their particular
units of participation. (We shall discuss these properties of BSPs in
relation to unit analysis more fully in the next section of this paper).
BSPs are not only durable and stable over time but they can account
for change over time with considerable ease of meaning, fit and
workability. Since process connotes a temporal dimension, focus
is on patterned lines of conduct as they occur over time under
different conditions that generate change. Thus, change is fully as
much an inherent feature of BSPs as their stability and variability.
This characteristic contributes toward solving a perennial problem
in sociology—accounting for change. The notion of change is not at
all built into many other generic concepts in sociology such as social
class, role, social structure, social system, functionalism and so forth.
These categories can often be rejected when it comes to analyzing
change since they become obsolete or clumsy in reflecting the
realities of change.
When things change because of full variability, new conditions,
stages, and transitions can be added to the BSP in order to handle
the change. Take for example, locating “progress in a class” as a
process. Students are able to locate themselves by comparing grades
with one another. But, suppose a particular school eliminates grading.
New methods of locating may be found, such as noting how often one
is called upon in class, or other such subtle forms of “feedback.” At
any rate, the theory of locating can be modified to handle the change.

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Whatever changes and adjustments take place can simply be added

as conditions or consequences of the process. The theory has not
been “disproved” or made obsolete in any way. A process of locating
still exists—it has merely been modified slightly in form, densified and
made more general.
BSPs can also handle change over much longer spans of time by
merely adjusting for the changes in conditions in the same general
way that adjustments could be made for changes encountered in
going from one substantive area to another. What would be accounted
for theoretically would be the absence of some conditions and the
presence of new or different conditions. The basic theory, however,
would remain intact. The “size” of temporal scale is included.

Basic Social Psychological Process (BSPP) and Basic

Social Structural Process (BSSP)

There are two types of BSPs—basic social psychological process

(BSPP) and basic social structural process (BSSP). A BSPP refers
to social psychological processes such as becoming, highlighting,
personalizing, health optimizing, awe inspiring and so forth. A BSSP
refers to social structure in process—usually growth or deterioration—
such as bureaucratization or debureaucratization, routinization,
centralization or decentralization, organizational growth, admitting
or recruiting procedures, succession, and so forth. A BSSP abets,
facilitates or serves as the social structure within which the BSPP
processes. Thus the growth of free clinics facilitates the prescribing
process of birth control and family planning (Lindemann, 1974). The
growth of spiritualizing of health food stores was necessary to “hippie”
health optimizing (Hanson, 1976). Consolidating a revolution is
accomplished by bureaucratization of charisma (Weber, 1947).

Most sociology these days focuses on social psychological process

and assumes social structural process—or simply treats it as a
changing set of structural conditions—without formulating it clearly
as a process. The question remains is the latter all that necessary?
Perhaps the BSPP is more prevalent and relevant to understanding
behavior, since one does not need the BSSP to understand it, but
usually one needs a BSPP to understand the focus on a BSSP. This
question is, of course, to be answered empirically for any particular
study. But given this prevalence, BSP implies a BSPP and when the
analyst is generating a social structural process theory, he states it
clearly as such and uses BSSP.

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Society swings on the relevance of its interest, sometimes focusing

on social psychological problems (getting poor people to upgrade)
or sometimes focusing on social structural problems (providing
opportunities for work, health distribution systems, government
programs). Sociologists follow both foci. The most sophisticated
sociological renditions include both processes, however; perhaps
most will focus on the social psychological. It takes skill and clarity of
purpose to mix both with full development, as opposed to focusing on
one and using variables from the other.
Two general kinds of mix occur. One is that a BSP includes both
BSSP and BSPP. Examples are admitting, screening or recruitment
processes to an organization. The recruitment to a fraternity in college
is a clear mix of social psychological and structural in the screening
and initiation ceremonies. The other type is that the BSPP and BSSP
are clearly separate. For example, building housing tracts with better
homes and on better terrain is a process growing builders go through.
At the same time people are upgrading their housing circumstances
when they choose new neighborhoods with better homes, schools,
roads, parks and so forth. The new neighborhood can easily include
new homes or old homes or both. As another example, developing
health food stores was clearly separate from spiritualized, health
optimizing.
When the BSSP follows and facilitates the BSPP, it takes on
properties of the latter. Thus, the growth in health food stores
occurred by taking on properties of the health optimizing process
that it services; e.g. they sold natural vitamins with rhetoric. And vice
versa, when the BSSP comes first, the BSPP takes on properties of
it. Thus, in the beginning, birth control prescriptions took on the rules
of family planning agencies. Women had to be married at one time to
get a prescription for birth control. When the disjunction is great, as
in this case, the social psychological may either exert a change over
the social structural or may be purged. Thus, BSPPs can become
structural conditions that affect the nature of BSSPs, and vice versa.
In this way, a theoretical link is made between the two general levels.
The theoretical links that relate the two are many and emergent. Being
analytically clear about their separateness allows for a well formulated
analytic mix of the two. Otherwise, an analysis tends to become
confused or unclear as to the referent process. For example, how does
one analyze job transfers in an occupational career as related to time
for personalizing rental housing, without a notion of how to develop
both processes? Or how does one analyze upgrading life styles in

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housing related to unavailability of new and better housing, without a

clear picture on the disjuncture of the stages of each process?
An analysis can emphasize the BSPP or BSSP, or some mix of the two,
depending on which process or which mix emerges as more relevant
in the situation under study. In studying a process that optimizes
change, fluidity, and unfreezing of behavioral patterns, it is likely that
the emergent mix would emphasize the BSPP. In studying a structural
phenomenon as it is growing, such as behavior in new communes or
people engaging in a new health practice, one would also bring in the
new BSSP that supports the BSPP. In studying a phenomenon that
requires little change in existing support systems, structural process
might not be as important, for instance, as a process occurring in
a bureaucratic setting where the actors have little control over the
structural support. Even in such a situation, however, there may be
informal modifications of the formal support structure.
Beside the above defining properties, a BSP has other important
characteristics. For instance, a BSP applies a theoretically useful
approach to deviance. It is, as well, systematically tied to a
methodology. Both characteristics are further elaborated below.

BSP and Deviance

It seems that most sociological theories are unable to explain with

ease “negative or deviant cases” of whatever it is they are supposed
to explain. So, they must resort to the use of additional theories—
ordinarily some sort of deviance theory. Since deviant events could
easily be explained as an integral part of a normal basic social process
that takes place under certain conditions, there is no need to see the
events as deviant or extraordinary. As the idea of basic social process
becomes commonly used, the notion of “negative case” disappears.
What were once considered negative cases merely highlight further
conditions under which behavior varies according to the pertinent
basic social process.

It is an error for sociologists to preconceive certain behaviors as

fundamentally deviant, but even more an error for them to assume
from the start that the most relevant thing about a particular behavior
is its deviant dimension (regardless of how “deviant” is defined). Even
if it is a behavior that is unquestionably far from general societal
norms, values, etc., there is no reason, before it emerges, to take that
as a starting point for analysis of the behavior. Such a consensual

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label may, in reality, have little to do with the motivation, organization,

etc. of the behavior. Whether or not it does is a matter for empirical
inquiry. The starting point is to discover the BSP.
If the analyst were to begin with the preconception that a particular
behavior, organization, or whatever, was deviant and that was the
most important thing about the study, the chance is very high that
s/he would miss the core and relevance of what is actually happening.
To use an example: If s/he were to study brothels (which one can
safely say are generally considered deviant) from the point of view
that the fact of their deviance is the most important thing about them
sociologically, s/he would likely miss the more general relevant fact
that sociologically—in terms of structure, function, organization, and
process—they are similar to barber shops, beauty salons, garages,
and so forth. All are servicing operations.
All of these organizations service persons or their belongings. All have
steady as well as casual clients. All encourage their clients to remain
on the premises only while they are being serviced. After servicing,
they are “spent” and are no longer useful until they require servicing
again, and so forth. These seemingly different organizations have
much in common sociologically, regardless of how they are seen and
defined in common sense terms, and regardless of whether or not
they are defined as deviant. Servicing need not be seen as deviant or
non-deviant sociologically unless it is discovered that the deviant label
has consequences for the servicing operation and those persons who
are a part of it. In the case of the brothel, the deviant label would likely
result in its being more isolated, less obtrusive, and so forth, than
many other types of service operations.
In other words, from a BSP view, the deviant label (i.e. the fact that
other persons see the activity and the organization as deviant) is
merely one of many conditions that affect the servicing operations.
Anyone who questioned the women would soon discover that their
main concern is about servicing efficiently not about being “deviant.”
In this fashion, deviance is put in integrative perspective as part of
a BSP, rather than being developed as a separate body of theory.
As such, its part in the development of theory would be reduced
in importance in terms of the amount of time and effort spent, but
increased in terms of its contribution to an integrated theory of what
makes a part of society work.
If the analyst is interested in accounting for how particular persons
engage in an act or series of acts which happened to get labeled
deviant or have great potential for such a thing happening, a BSP

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approach would look different from other approaches, primarily

because the grounded explanation for the behavior would be
contextualized and multivariate.
It would be contextualized in that it would not seek to explain too
much (as most other theories do), but rather would seek to explain
the sources (i.e. the conditions, properties, and so forth) of “deviance”
within a particular context such as a servicing operation. Once enough
grounded data has been gathered, presumably through several
studies and through the use of theoretical sampling, it may be possible
to lift the theory out of particular contexts and elevate it to a more
formal level. This could be accomplished if a number of dimensions,
properties, etc., were discovered which were cross-contextual enough
to form a foundation for a formal theory. However, this would not be
taken as the starting point (as it is in functionalist theory, for instance)
but rather as the advancing of a substantive theory to a formal one,
abstract of time and place.
A BSP view would be multivariate in that it would seek to discover all
of the many relevant variables (conditions, consequences, properties,
etc.) that constitute the process leading up to a particular form of
“deviant” behavior as covariant among other behaviors. In contrast
to this, the ordinary approach is to preconceive several variables
and then go out and try to verify their existence (overlooking all
the other possible variables which come into play). In addition, a
grounded BSP would pick up and integrate structural as well as social
psychological variables. The relationship between these various
levels of variables could be shown; how they interact and affect one
another in a systematic way. This has not been accomplished by the
multivariate theories that exist presently. They have merely admitted
that different levels of variables are involved in the explanation of
deviant behavior.

BSP and Methodology

As BSPs are densified and integrated, they may become multivariate

to the point of including variables from other disciplines, such as
psychology, political science, medicine and so forth. They easily
become stages in process, consequences or conditions. Thus, as
an isolating BSP, mental depression can cause social isolation that
can cause physical illness that results in hospitalization, with further
isolating in an isolating BSP. One handles emergence with whatever
categories (from whatever discipline) that fit and work and that the

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analyst is trained to understand.

Since basic social processes are fundamental patterns in the

organization of social behavior as it occurs over time, the BSP
conception is a generic theoretical construct of the same genre as
Max Weber’s “ideal type” and Alfred Schutz’s “homunculus.” However,
unlike these conceptions, the idea of BSP (and core variable) was
developed within and is systematically tied to a specific methodology
for generating theory. The conception is not a presupposition of the
methodology, but rather is a product of its operations. The theoretical
construct—BSP—was conceived as a by-product emergent in the
process of doing and developing the methodology of grounded theory
research. In contrast to ideal types and homunculi, BSPs are more
than post hoc honorary labels. The BSP is fully “operational” at every
step of the grounded research process. This is not the case, so far as
I know, with any other type of theory construction. Weber and Schutz,
for instance, leave the operationalization of their theoretical type up to
one’s imagination. This may allow for flexibility, but it also allows for
deductive speculation and floundering before a research method and
effort is applied.
Grounded theory methodology does not rely solely on “cleverness,”
“ingenuity,” “insight,” and so forth, yet it is not so rigid and specific that
it can be learned and carried out by mere “technicians.” It requires
theoretical sensitivity as well as technical skills, and some persons will,
of course, be better at it than others. It also requires a specific course
of training (by teaching or reading) because it is a system that must be
used in whole. If it is used in part, or if parts are used incorrectly, it will
work less than properly. We have learned that analysts who use it only
partially are not likely to realize this, because many of its advantages
are not evident until it is used as a whole (e.g. the advantages of
writing memos, coding, sorting and so forth—both individually and
combined—become evident primarily through experience in doing
these things). This is not to say, however, that one should use it as
a whole or not at all. Every step used will improve one’s ability to
construct theory, regardless of what kind. The methodology provides
a perpetual development of skill as one uses each part.
BSPs can be developed by this methodology at various levels of
conceptual abstraction ranging from substantive theory (theory about
a specific substantive area—e.g. Karate) (BEESON, 1973) through
general substantive theory (theories about several similar substantive
areas—e.g. kinds of physical self-defense) to formal theory (theory
abstract of specific, substantive times and places areas—e.g. self-

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defending). Thus BSPs can be conceptually ordered according to

abstraction, but each level is always theoretically and methodologically
linked with a less abstract level and with systematically collected data
of the empirical world. They never become operationally distant or
remote from reality. We might add that BSPs are not theories of the
middle range.

Finding a BSP

There are two basic models for finding a BSP; by discovery and by
emergent fit. By discovery, the analyst goes to a fairly contained social
unit attempting by observation and interviewing to see as much as
possible and find out the most salient social problem of the people
there. Then s/he discovers the core variable—hopefully a BSP—that
accounts for most of the variation in the behavior about the problem.
S/he then switches focus from studying the unit to studying the
process and proceeds to generate a substantive theory of the process
by constant comparisons of incidents within different comparative
groups in the same substantive class.

By emergent fit, the analyst has a BSP—discovered elsewhere—and

wishes to extend it or to do a grounded formal theory of it. S/he then
proceeds to find groups within which to study the BSP and, as in the
first model, starts comparing incidents and groups within or between
classes of units to achieve a level of generality, whether general
substantive or formal.
Of course, we favor the first model, but since many BSPs are known
already, some analysts may prefer the second model. It has, however,
various pitfalls. In discovering the emergent fit, the analyst should be
cautious about assuming that if the BSP fits, it is the core variable of
that unit. It very likely is not; the BSP is being imposed for the purpose
of generating a theory of it, not of explaining the variation of behavior
in the unit studied. Thus one can study temporal pacing in just about
any social unit, but it is seldom, if ever, the core variable of the unit.
Since it is not the core variable, the BSP will usually be less than
densely developed in the study unit. It will very likely become over-
shadowed by a more salient core variable or BSP. Thus using the
second model, the analyst skips between many chosen units looking
for grounded densifications of properties and does not overwork any
one group and incidents in a unit for what is not their BSP as it would
be for a discovered BSP.

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Furthermore, the second model is somewhat contradictory to the first

and to the main theme of this paper, but it has a place in grounded
theory if done carefully—since there are many grounded BSPs
already discovered that need further development within and between
substantive areas. The second model looks a bit like deductive, logical
elaboration, but it is not, providing the analyst follows the grounded
approach. S/he does not start “empty” or “non-preconceived” as in
the first model. S/he engages in pre-emergent analytic thinking, and
sampling before approaching the field. But once in the field, s/he starts
correcting early thoughts and follows the grounding in subsequent
theoretical sampling. And s/he ends up as s/he would in the first
model, searching for comparison groups, as it becomes clearer and
clearer where to go for fit as the theory develops.
There seems to have arisen a tacit rule in naming BSPs. It is turning
a substantive noun or verb into a gerund. Thus we have “friending”
and “becoming” respectively. While most BSPs are labeled with a
gerund, not all are; thus, career, alarm system or recruitment system.
As we said above, caution should be applied in over-use of gerunds.
They may mask a basic social structural condition, such as “security
system” or “shift”(as in our earlier example). As in all grounded theory
work, there is an area for theoretical creativity in labeling and rendering
the BSP or core variable.
As the analyst becomes practiced in spotting and conceptualizing
BSPs, s/he should avoid a probable occurrence. In reading others’
works, a BSP may become evident, which the author did not know s/he
had in the data. The analyst should say as much in his/her own work,
and not attribute the idea to the author. The analyst should distinguish
his/her good idea from the author’s “good data but conceptual miss”.
In fact, most BSPs are implicit and taken for granted in data, both by
sociologists and participants alike. Only with training does the analyst
see the strong contribution of a BSP to the on-going activity in the area
under study, and only then can a theory be consciously generated for
a BSP.

BSPs Compared to Units

Most sociology is focused on a rendition of a social structural unit.

That is, no matter what the substantive issues or concepts, or
whether the study is description, verification or theory building, we
read about properties of a unit; persons, groups, organizations,
aggregates, statuses, nations, and so forth. In contrast, in this paper

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we have placed a relative emphasis on social process as the focus of

analysis. We generate properties of process. It is important and useful
to develop here the distinction between unit analysis and process
analysis, so that their relative use and merits for sociology can begin
to be clearly understood and used accordingly.

In itself, the focus on either unit or process sociology is not intrinsically

meritorious. The test of relative worth lies in how well each may
contribute to the knowledge of sociology and the purpose at hand. We,
of course, are biased toward process, as we see many comparative
advantages in the transcending nature of BSPs. The reader must
make his/her own calculations for each project. These distinctions
listed below are opening ideas, not final dicta. Some items do not have
to occur, but empirically, they do.

UNIT PROCESS
1. Relative Focus A unit is a place where a process
goes on and it provides a set
Process is one property of the
of conditions for its operation.
unit. Analysis focuses on unit
Analysis uses properties of unit,
itself.
not unit itself.
Focus is on process as it explains
or processes a problem or behavior
pattern.
2. Freedom From Time and Process is free of unit’s time and
Place place. These properties of unit are
only varying conditions. Another
Unit bound. Rendition of unit is
unit varies process differently.
always bound by its time and
place during period of study.
3. Generalizing Fully generalizable quite easily, as
a BSP transcends the boundaries
Finite to unit; analyst can
on any one unit by just varying it for
only generalize a study to a
another unit’s properties. Thus, the
similar, usually larger unit.
analyst generalizes a substantive
Generalizing is difficult and
BSP to a generic BSP. BSP is more
slow as must study large unit
general as it may apply to all units.
to analyze differences or use
random sampling of smaller
unit. Number of units to
generalize to is limited.

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UNIT PROCESS
4. Action The action of life is always in the
process rather than of the unit itself.
Provides the conditions
The unit is actuated by process as
that more or less allow the
it bounds and locates it. The action
action. Units rely on BSPs to
process is a BSPP.
run. Units are where BSSPs
and BSPPs intersect. Units
themselves may be a BSSP
that processes very slowly,
compared to BSPP, and is
actuated by BSPP. A static unit
is a frozen BSPP.
5. Freedom from Perspective BSPs are a separate perspective,
irrespective of the perspective of
Study of unit is always from
participant or analyst. BSPs go
perspective of analyst and/or
on irrespective of bias of analyst.
participants. Bias is part of
“Purging”is always purging,
analysis as it is built (the
becoming is always becoming,
establishment view of a
no matter how perspectived the
corporation, for example).
rendition. Bias is just one more
variable in a multivariate analysis.
6. Durability BSPs are quite durable. They
transcend the fallibility of units
Time and place change so
and, while keeping up with unit
studies of a unit becomes
changes, as units change, BSPs
obsolete, whether unit
get modified.
description, unit theory, or unit
formulations of change.
7. Transferability Since BSPs are fully general, they
transfer easily with modification.
Once out of generalizing
Becoming applies to both a nursing
range, it is difficult and
school and an air force academy.
hazardous to transfer ideas or
findings of one unit to another
unit. Transferring ideas about
a nursing school to an Air
Force academy probably does
not apply.

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UNIT PROCESS
8. Consultation Based on An expert on a process can consult
Transferability on any unit where process is
occurring by just knowing general
An expert on a unit is restricted
process and applying it to new
to that type of unit, and he
conditions.
requires much knowledge.
9. Misattribution of Source A BSP implies that it is being
used by the unit, not a source of
To describe a process as a
it, and the use varies within it. For
property of a unit implies that
example, it is accurate to say that
it is uniquely the result of the
women in karate use one mode
people in the unit. This is
of neutralization of an otherwise
inaccurate. The unit simply
differentiating sex status.
uses a general process. Thus,
“women in karate are trying to
neutralize sex status” implies
they produced this process,
which is inaccurate.
10. Learning BSPs have much “grab”(they catch
interest quickly), because they
Typical unit studies can be
have high impact in meaning, are
boring unless on a deviant or
easily understandable, and have
other particularly interesting
general ideas that are easiest to
group. It is hard to remember
remember.
the plethora of facts, and
understanding the unit is
often bereft of intrinsic scope
of meaning, because of low
generality.
11. Research Sampling Theoretical sampling of properties
is used to generate to the theoretical
Random sampling of unit itself
completeness of process.
is used so the analyst can
generalize to a large unit.
12. Research Coverage Theoretical coverage requires
only theoretical sampling of that
Full range of representative
segment of all behavior needed
factual coverage needed to
to generate an explanatory theory
describe the unit accurately,
of a process. The analyst does not
whether for description or
need representative coverage of all
verification.
behavior.

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UNIT PROCESS
13. Research Accuracy Not crucial with a BSP, since
successive comparisons correct
Units tend to require
categories and hypotheses.
accuracy so the descriptions
Statements are hypotheses, thus
will be considered correct.
claimed as suggestions to be
Statements are facts to be
checked out; they are not claimed
believed, and subject to slight
as facts.
correction.
14. Research Reading Unfortunately BSP theory is
still read by many as factual
Read as accurate description.
description, not as hypothetical
generalizations.
15. Historiocity A BSP, since it deals with on-going
movement, implies both a past
Unit studies are fixed in time.
and a future that can almost be
They are static. They are
extrapolated. A BSP has change
cross-sectional; picking up a
built into it, as it is modified to
moment in time, as if forever,
incorporate new data. A BSP
but it becomes outdated, thus
considers categories as part of
temporal scope is severely
larger ongoing process, historical
limited.
scope. A BSP is in motion, not
restricted to time.
16. Theoretical Impact Based on above differences,
a BSP allows for an expansive
Based on the above
amount of grounded theorizing
differences, unit analysis has
about every facet of social life. It
limited impact and scope.
has high impact.
17. New Data Generates more BSP theory by
comparing it and modifying theory
Typically refutes part of unit
by extension and densification.
study.

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UNIT PROCESS
18. Relationability BSPs, by cutting across and
transcending the boundaries of
Units are seen as separate
separate units, provide ways of
entities with definite
relating units to each other through
boundaries. Theory related to a
the same process; e.g., cultivating
unit is not theoretically related
clientele, is a way of relating
significantly to other units,
milkmen to lawyers. Thus BSPs tie
except perhaps to a larger
social organization together. They
similar unit to which it may be
are integrating. BSPs also relate to
generalized. Thus unit studies
each other within units.
are non-integrative to social
organization, they make units,
which are similar on underlying
dimensions, seem separate,
which is only arbitrarily so;
e.g., normal and deviant
studies appear different, not
as two dimensions of the
same general process. More
fundamental patterns are
obscured.

Sociology along Process Lines

The above comparisons clearly indicate the quite different appearance

and import that sociological renderings of the world will take in
generating grounded BSPs. Our effort is to show that focusing on
process, as well as on units, will facilitate theoretical development in
sociology. Process analysis will partly alter the conceptual appearance
of sociology by cutting across the transcending traditional concerns,
topics and boundaries, such as check forgers, political parties,
adolescents, homosexuality, prisons, patient care and so forth.

Much of unit sociology is delineated along lines that are not

theoretically contiguous, although they are treated as such. As we
indicated above, if a unit sociologist were to begin a study of brothels,
s/he would probably place the study in the traditional category of
“deviant behavior” or possibly “social problem.” In doing so, the
presumption is that the essence or at least a primary property of the
behavior to be studied is deviant or socially problematic. Concomitant
results will explain the motivations, attitudes, or other social

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characteristics of persons who engage in such practices as distinct

from non-practitioners; i.e., “normals”. However, in categorizing
brothel activities as merely another instance of deviant behavior,
other—perhaps more central characteristics of the phenomenon—are
denied serious consideration by the researcher.

If we hold in abeyance the deviance assumption, we note that the area

to be studied is an organized activity, established for the expressed
purpose of exchanging a “service” for remuneration. Viewed in
terms of process, it would be found that the structural properties
of the brothel are akin to servicing operations in general—a basic
social process in American society. Quite simply, the brothel exists
to provide a service(s), which happens to be sex. One property of a
servicing process in this particular context is that the service being
provided is generally considered deviant in the everyday world. The
“fact” that it is so conceived may have some consequences for the
organization of some of its publicly visible activities, such as making it
necessary to maintain a low profile, putting limits on public advertising,
necessitating payoffs to the police, etc.

However, the deviant conception of brothel activities is only one among

many conditions and properties in this and other servicing contexts.
Compared to other possible characteristics of the general process of
“servicing” such as power symmetry, role of expertise, specialized
knowledge, right of grievance, duration on premises, malpractice
problems, waiting properties, etc., the primacy afforded the role of
deviance in a unit analysis seems more reflective of common-sense
considerations than theoretical fit. Conceptualized from a process
orientation, the behavior of prostitutes and their customers has more
in common theoretically with behavior found in garages and beauty
parlors than it does with check forgery, alcoholism, and the vast array
of other instances ordinarily conceptualized as deviant behavior.

One further observation seems warranted. From our example

of brothel activities, it might be concluded that we have merely
transposed a hypothetical social psychological study into one
focusing on organization. We would answer that this is again a priority
characterization that is not reflected in the empirical world. Instead, in
our ongoing work with BSPs we have found one of its strengths to be
an ability to conjointly render both structural and social psychological
variables in terms of social process. It may be the case that either
structural or social psychological variation has primacy in a given
area, but that is a data-related question.

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Regardless of the usual sociological interests, whether it be deviance,

religion, collective behavior, etc.; and, regardless of the usual primary
focus as either organizational or social psychological, the referent
for BSP theory is always the process itself and not the particular
substantive or conceptual unit involved. This does not mean that the
analyst will be unable to explain how the particular substantive unit
functions. Quite the contrary! BSP accounts of the world contribute
substantial insight into the practical realities of the day-to-day world by
explaining its variation (Glaser, 1969). However, as mentioned earlier,
the analytic focus seeks theoretical coverage and not descriptive
completeness, which is seen as impossible. As such, no claim is
being made that “servicing” is the only aspect of brothels of theoretical
importance. The only claim being advanced is that “servicing”
explains much of the variation to be found in the actions, interactions,
and perceptions found in the collected data from that research site.
The process illuminates organizational features about the brothel,
interactional patterns between prostitute and customer, prostitutes’
conceptions of their roles, and a wide variety of less obvious variables.
As such, “servicing” is not to be taken as a “theory” about brothels (or
deviance), but rather as a theoretical statement about processes that
occur therein, which occurs in other areas of social life as well.

This illustrates the consequences BSP sociology would have for the
manner in which sociology theoretically divides the empirical world.
BSPs as basic uniformities of social life, cut across the boundaries by
which sociology has traditionally been sub-divided. Thus, one of the
major ways in which we render the world sociologically should reflect
this basic uniformity.

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Authors

Barney G. Glaser Ph.D., Hon. Ph.D.

The Grounded Theory Institute
P.O.Box 400
Mill Valley, CA 94942
USA

Judith A. Holton
10 Edinburgh Drive
Charlottetown, PE C1A 3E8
Canada

Correspondence:
Tel: 415 388 8431
Fax: 415 381 2254
Email: [email protected]
[email protected]

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The Grounded Theory Review (2005) vol. 4, no. 3

References

Beeson, Diane. (1973). Women in Karate: Neutralization of Sex Roles

(Master’s Thesis). San Francisco: University of California.
Bigus, Odis E. (1972). The Milkman and his Customer. A Cultivated
Relationship, Urban Life and Culture, July, pp. 131–165.
Glaser, Barney G. and Strauss, Anselm L. (1967). Awareness of
Dying. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co.
Glaser, Barney G. (1969) Second Deeds of Trust: How to Make Money
Safely. Mill Valley, CA, Balboa Publishing Co.
Glaser, Barney G. and Strauss, Anselm L. (1971). Status Passage: A
Formal Theory. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co.
Glaser, Barney G. and Strauss, Anselm L. (1968). Time For Dying.
Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co.
Hanson, Richard R. (1976). In Quest of Optimal Health: The Natural
Health Movement in the United States (Ph.D. Thesis). Davis,
CA: University of California.
Lindemann, Constance (1974). Birth Control and Unmarried Young
Women. New York: Springer Publishing Company.
Olesen, Virginia L. and Whittaker, Elvi W. (1968). The Silent Dialogue:
A Study in the Social Psychology of Professional Socialization.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc.
Strauss, Anselm L. (1969). Mirrors and Masks. San Francisco:
Sociology Press, 1969.
Weber, Max. (1947). Theory of Social and Economic Organization.
Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
Yabroff, Lawrence J. (1972). Faulting: Why They Don’t Hear(Master’s
Thesis). San Francisco: University of California.

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The Grounded Theory Review (2005) vol. 4, no. 3

Adventuring: A grounded theory

discovered through the analysis of
science teaching and learning
By Katrina M. Maloney, M.Sc., Ed.D.

Abstract

The grounded theory of adventuring, derived from the substantive

area of science teaching and learning, explains both why scientific
thinking is an evolutionarily important trait and illustrates a common
thread throughout a variety of teaching and learning behaviors. The
core concept of adventuring incorporates the categories of exploring,
mavericking, and acquiring and applying skills that are the hallmarks
of positive science education. Learning science is difficult due to the
higher order cognitive skills required. This study explains how we
could be teaching and learning science in a way for which our brains
are best suited, and in ways that reach all learners, and encourages
the use of adventuring in all classrooms.

Introduction

The grounded theory of adventuring explains behaviors of teachers

and learners. This study discusses the psychology/sociology of
teachers teaching science and students learning science through a
grounded theory analysis of behaviors, and elucidates the biological
process of thinking by discussing changes over time to the human
brain’s physiology and chemistry. In connecting the behaviors of
science thinkers to the biology of the brain’s hardware, this work
explains how we could be teaching and learning science in a way for
which our brains are best suited.

Adventuring, as a core concept, contains the three categories

of exploring, mavericking and acquiring and applying skills. Ten
dimensions of adventuring are also discussed in this study, identiftying
conditions, strategies, types and consequences of adventuring.
Although the theory of adventuring was discovered through an
exploration of the substantive area of science teaching and learning,
as soon as the theory was shared with others, it became apparent that
adventuring happens in a wide variety of situations and conceptualizes
latent patterns of behavior found in many learning scenarios.

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Rationale: Why is Learning Science Difficult?

Studies summarized in Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy (American

Association for the Advancement of Science, 1991) and Shaping our
Future (National Science Foundation, 1996) state unequivocally that
there is a need to teach science well to promote the type of scientific
literacy necessary in a complex and increasingly global society.
Science is in our everyday space. The imperative to be active decision
makers in our country is a right and, as such, carries responsibility.
If we forfeit that right and deny the importance of science education
for all learners, we do a grave disservice to our communities, to our
country, and to our planet.

The higher level cognitive demands of science courses are very

difficult for a developing mind. Specifically, science courses blend
math skills and linguistic skills, higher order cognition skills of
hypothesis generation, analysis and modification. Science courses
require rote memorization, sequential organization, and sustained
attention to detail. Understanding science texts and participating
in class discussion require sophisticated receptive and expressive
language abilities (Levine, 1987). Troublesome issues for students
identified in college science classrooms by professors include:
use of scientific tools (hardware such as microscopes, centrifuges,
incubators, balances, pipettes, measuring instruments); science
literature (dichotomous keys, graphs/tables/charts, textbooks, journal
articles, popular press items); and the cognitive skills of analytical
thinking such as basic questioning, prediction, the hypothetical-
deductive process itself (proceeding from general concepts to
specific events, or, in other words, identifying the causes of results),
organization of data and concepts, creating and/or reading graphs
and charts, the recursive nature of science inquiry, and the possibility
of change in facts/theories/hypotheses. Students bring various
strengths to their work in the cognitive realm of science, but severe
deficits in background understanding of basic scientific processes are
obvious (personal communications, colleagues at a small liberal arts
college, 1999).

In addition to the list above, a skills-and-inquiry-based text and study

guide (Milani, 1987) identifies the following as “Science Cognition
Skills”:

-observing
-describing properties and changes

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-using data tables

-inferring from data
-using models to understand ideas
-identifying variables
-making predictions from hypothesis
-interpreting data to test hypothesis
-revising hypotheses
-statistics (use and understanding)
-making graphs--organizing data for
-observing to find evidence for a concept or idea
-classifying

As is apparent from the observations and teaching experiences of

college professors and literature written for classroom learning, there
is a complexity to the cognitive skills needed for successful scientific
thinking. Other elements involved include development (physical,
social, and intellectually maturity), biology (the health and “wiring” of
the brain/mind itself), psychological, cultural, and emotional aspects.

How we teach science today and to how we could be teaching science

if we understand how our brain/minds have evolved is a complex as
well as complicated issue. This grounded theory investigation of
the social activity of teaching and learning helps support the types
of changes in education imperative to our success as a society of
thinkers.

Method

The grounded theory (GT) method, used in this study, involves a

process of discovery that begins with a broad topic. Investigations in GT
start with a grand tour question, one that is deliberately open-ended so
that participants reveal processes, assumptions, or behaviors that are
important to them, without prejudicing influences from the researcher.
Live interviews, classroom observations, published interviews and
science literature were analyzed and incorporated into the final theory
of adventuring. The open-ended nature of the initial data collection
provided rich sources of material. The constant comparative analysis
methods integral to the GT method were used to analyze all sources
of data in this study.

The GT method is uniquely suited to the study of the complex

social construct of science education, (and indeed, other areas of

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education as well) because it is generated from data, not produced

by means of hypothesis verification. Grounded theory inductively
and systematically discovers theory from data. It generates rather
than verifies theory. Constant comparative analysis is employed in
grounded theory analysis to discover variables that might explain
the widest variety of behavior (Glaser, 1992). When an answer
seems imminent, the challenge is to keep asking, ‘How do I know?’
(Personal communication, Odis Simmons & Toni A. Gregory, June
2001). In this manner the analysis is kept honest to the data. The
constant implementation of strict comparison is the prime reason GT
research is rigorous, true to the data, and ultimately effective as a
social research tool (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Glaser, 1992; Simmons
& Gregory, 2003).

Education is a social pursuit and is both a complicated (made up of

more than two elements) and a complex (interconnected) system.
Grounded theory analysis uses the cognitive skills of comparison,
spiral reasoning (recursiveness) and a systematic, rigorous approach
to data collection and analysis in order to approach and identify
an emergent theory. Data analysis informs theory and vice versa
(Glaser, 1992). To begin a GT study, questions asked include “How
do the parts (data) combine into a whole (theory)?” and, “How do the
everyday behaviors shown through what the interviewee chooses to
talk about indicate a theory to explain why these behaviors happen?”
In contrast, in scientific method research (used by the natural and
physical sciences), an hypothesis is generated after observation, then
tested and verified or modified according to the data (Campbell, 1996;
Kent & Coker, 1992). Inductive and deductive reasoning skills are used
in GT analysis, and are both useful and necessary when considering
complex systems of education. The use of a conceptual theoretical
model, rather than either a qualitative or quantitative tradition alone,
yields a rich, relevant, workable and eventually modifiable theory.

Grounded theory, as a discovery system, is most suited to the study

of the intricate and controversial system of education. Educators and
learners are a widely diverse group, and there are many opinions about
the problems and successes of our education system. GT methods
suit this at times inextricable maze of a system by maintaining the
strict adherence to description and coding of behaviors while holding
at bay preconceptions, to get to the root of the matter: How can we
conceptualize the wide variety of behaviors inherent in teaching
and learning? The theory of adventuring is one explanation for the
behaviors exhibited by science teachers and learners.

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The Theory of Adventuring

The three major categories of adventuring are “exploring,”

“mavericking,” and the “acquisition and application of skills.” Any
person who actively seeks out physical or mental challenge in new
ways, proceeds to overcome those challenges in ways that are not
conventional, and then applies the new knowledge to another task
is adventuring. The purpose of adventuring is not to produce an
end product (although certain actions may have an endpoint such
as laboratory experiments). Adventuring behaviors have a deeper
objective than just to get somewhere, do something, or make a mark
on an actual or metaphorical mountain top. The point is the journey,
the challenges that arise during the process, and the knowledge that,
even for an expert in the field, something new is to be learned each
day or from each event. Each new learning impacts others, and the
results or consequences of the present may appear at a later time.

As Nobel laureate Barbara McClintock stated:

People get the idea that your ego gets in the way a lot of time-
-ego in the sense of wanting returns. But you don’t care about
those returns. You have the enormous pleasure of working on
it. The returns are not what you are after.
(Bertsch McGrayne, 1998, p.168)

A professional woman interviewed said that she was not interested

in research: “Something or someone always gets hurt--slugs or
chimps, whatever.” She preferred to practice her science, to read
about clinical trials, but to actually do her job was more rewarding
than seeking answers to hypothetical questions. Her experiences in
“getting my hands dirty” were more important than any lab work she
could have done. Referring to academia, she said: “It is not where you
life is--it’s your work that’s important.”

In the context of teaching and learning science, adventuring occurs

in classrooms on the part of the instructor and the student, in
laboratories, and in the field. Each of these environments holds the
necessary atmosphere for the dimensions, categories and properties
of adventuring. In a dynamic classroom, the instructor and students
each need to explore, have fun, do tasks, and acquire skills to be
used in the next task. Most science courses have some component

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of laboratory experimentation, and this is recognized as an important

hands-on teaching and learning technique (NSF, 1996). Most
students like lab activities. The lab serves as an alternative to the less
multimodal aspects of the classroom lecture model.

Field workers (veterinarians, foresters, biological survey workers, etc.)

have the opportunity to adventure in the best setting of all. The natural
world is full of opportunities for adventuring, and indeed is the original
stage for such behaviors. For instance, Jane Goodall pioneered
primate ethnology by conducting observations in the chimp’s own wild
habitat rather than in artificial environments such as zoos in the 1960s
(Montgomery, 1991).

Research laboratory workers, both principal investigators and research

assistants, have opportunities to adventure every day in their work. A
successful research scientist working in a laboratory, who is a leading
figure in her field, talked about her favorite thing is about her job:

Finding out something new that nobody ever knew before.

The whole process of being involved and finding out things
and the excitement of discovery is absolutely tremendous.

Conditions of Adventuring

Having control over one’s own schedule is important to successful

adventuring. Labs, classrooms, the field, and generally nontraditional
environments are conducive to adventuring. The flexible daily schedule
may fit a person’s own circadian rhythm, or creative cycles. Scientists
might put in 14 or more hours a day in the laboratory (Sonnert &
Holton, 1995), college professors may hold classes in the early
morning or evenings. Legend has it that Buckminster Fuller dreamed
of the structure of carbon now called a Bucky-ball, and “Eureka!” was
uttered by Archimedes in his bath. A research scientist remarked:

There are days that I get out in 8 hours and there are days
that I don’t. A lot of times I do more like 10 hours…but there is
flex time as long as you get the work done you can be flexible
about your hours. I don’ t have to be there at 6:30 a.m., but I’m
just much more of a morning person and I live close.

Creative thinking is fostered in adventuring scenarios. Although

nonlinear thinking is not traditionally considered a science cognitive

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skill, it is very important that there be freedom from the institutional

structure to utilize creative methods. A worker in a research lab said:

Every once in a while they [drug companies] come up with

something new like now you need to have a [specific product]
which is what I helped develop…They wanted to get it on the
market, so they had three existing [products] that they thought
would work, so they gave them to me and said, “Figure out
how to make this work”, so that’s what I did! It was cool!

Teamwork is an available option in adventuring. Several interviewees

mentioned the social aspect of doing science.

[Science is a] very social endeavor…somehow I’ve done

fairly well with people in my lab in terms of keeping them
happy…because of the fact that they feel that it’s a positive
environment.

Group work is often encouraged in science classrooms. Lab partners

are almost always assigned, to build cooperation and teamwork
skills in students, but also because some tasks need two people
to accomplish. In a marine biology class visited, the students were
paired up so that one could take notes while the other observed snails.
Sometimes teamwork is integral to the event, such as teacher-student
dynamics, team product development, physical assistance in the field,
and so on. At other times the scientist is alone, experimenting with
different ways to answer a question, or simply cogitating on the data.
“I enjoy mostly working by myself or with a small number of scientists
and students,” said one participant. Jane Goodall isolated herself from
other humans in order to observe the wild chimpanzees in their natural
environment (Montgomery, 1991). Barbara McClintock developed the
“capacity to be alone” (Fox Keller, 1983, p. 17) from an early age, and
this strength supported her research endeavors throughout her life.

Part of adventuring is the serial completion of tasks. There are things

to do, places to go, people to see, and ideas to contemplate. There are
classes to teach, research to conduct, clients to meet, reports to write.
Each task is time delineated with the beginning, middle, and end as
discrete. The tasks may be related, and a series of tasks comprising a
project is a key component of adventuring. (See below for a complete
description of variable tasking.)

In adventuring, the individual has control over Intellectual

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processes and personal motivation. In adventuring, the day-to-

day accomplishment of goals is self-regulated, self-directed, and
self-satisfying. For instance- laboratory protocols are designed by
researchers themselves (“With this product, I made the protocol, so
everyone follows the protocol I came up with”); professors design and
implement their courses (“I do a lot of independent studies…I get out
there with curriculum development work, bio majors who want to be
bio teachers, for instance”); and field workers have only themselves
to rely on when confronted with tasks to accomplish or problems to
solve. In adventuring, internal motivation to succeed, grow, use new
skills, and/or relate old knowledge to new challenges is strong.

Adventuring is not about being safe and comfortable, it is about

actively seeking challenge: risk is available. Jobs that are intrinsically
risky are considered fun and desirable: The challenge is the attraction
that maintains high interest and engagement. Risk may be intellectual,
as for this research scientist: “In choosing a subject, there has been
a deliberate and very strong desire to choose something that can be
completely one’s own. And this is clearly true with me, in terms of
what I’ve chosen, even if it is high risk.” And risk can be physical, as in
exploring a relatively inaccessible ecosystem, working in the field with
large animals, or working alone in the woods.
Risk is not necessarily involved in daily survival needs--basic bodily
needs such as food and housing are met, so that one can concentrate
on higher order intellectual activities.
There are three types of freedoms associated with adventuring:

Mechanical freedom comes about by gaining the knowledge of

tools to DO actions/tasks. A professional scientist learned all the
skills she needed to go out and do her job, and therefore could
go beyond the basics in her everyday work. A college professor
said, “[my graduate experience] is really driving who I’m becoming
as a teacher.” The abilities gained through mastering skills allow
adventuring to be realized.

Expressive freedom is made available when creativity is

unleashed and allowed, encouraged to flourish, and focused to
use as a tool. Innovation, approaching problems from creative
points of view, and being encouraged to do so is important in
successful adventuring. After students are taught certain skills
(i.e., observation, hypothesis development), then “let loose”
on a project with support for creative approaches, adventuring

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happens. Discussing the undergraduate professor for whom

she became a research assistant, Barbara McClintock said, “He
just left me to do anything I wanted to do, just completely free”
(Fox Keller, 1983, p.39). The early trust her supervisor placed in
McClintock fostered her creative abilities and encouraged her to
have faith in her own intelligence.

After mechanics are learned and creativity unleashed, mental

freedom to use all of the exploring, mavericking, and acquisition
of skills of adventuring at once is possible. After Rosalind Franklin
left Kings College (where she had discovered the structure of the
B form of DNA in 1951), she had a lab at Birkbeck College and a
project to study viruses. At Birkbeck, she had grants, assistants,
space, and the respect of her colleagues. Franklin proceeded to
publish 17 papers on virus structure between 1953 and 1958,
a prolific record (Sayre, 1975). The combined conditions of
Franklin’s extensive background in x-ray technique, the availability
of an interesting and unique problem to which she could apply her
creative skills, and the conditions which allowed her to flourish
and apply all of her skills exemplify the freedoms of adventuring.

Strategies of Adventuring

In order to maintain the adventuring state, scientists take on many

different responsibilities (teaching load, independent student projects,
writing, sitting on committees, presenting at/attending conferences,
projects in a lab). Interacting with colleagues of like mind for mutual
discussion and understanding also occurs. Socializing with peers
is fun, interesting, and synergistic: New knowing can come from
such interactions. A strategy of maintaining the adventuring state
for teachers may be taking a lower paying teaching job rather than
pursing research at a university. Adventuring requires flexibility in
daily schedules as well as broader considerations such as geographic
location or job description. A college professor said:

This is one of the best jobs in the world as far as I’m

concerned, because, if you were at a large research institute
as a professor, you know, I’d have a lot less flexibility…here
if I want to do my scholarship on an organism one year, I can
switch to something different the next year.

Furthering one’s own professional development by attending

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conferences, presenting, reading others’ work, and moving to a

geographic location that has the situation desired with all the proper
elements are additional strategies of adventuring. Adventuring
teachers or researchers learn skills from their own education, both
formally in graduate school and informally as they teach in their fields.
The skills thus acquired are vital to the recursive nature of adventuring.
Each skill learned and applied gathers others to it and advances the
spiral loop of exploration and discovery.

Types of Adventuring

In the realm of scientific teaching and learning, there are two main
types of adventuring: (a) teaching, which, as an added result,
prepares others to adventure into science inquiry, and (b) researching
or “doing science.” Both types are active, seek change, and impact
others through the combined behaviors of adventuring. Adventuring
through teaching incorporates action agents-- meta-catalysts seeking
out events and acting upon such for change. “Teaching adventuring”
acts after, beyond, behind, along with, and among other people
to bring about new knowledge, and in so doing is strengthened
and changed in preparation for the next event. As a meta-catalyst,
teaching adventuring is not used up during a reaction but grows
stronger and more expert as it travels long the loops of adventuring. A
college professor said:

I’m not producing much science, but I’m helping produce

scientists…so I feel like I have much more impact on my
field in this position than I would if I was a practicing, doing
research, although I try to do some of that, but you know when
students come in and do all these independent projects, you
know it takes away from my getting my research done, but…
through them I get to explore about other new things….so
my motivation [in taking on independent students] is to have
those students go off and do such great things afterwards,
that huge amount of confidence they gain from working one
on one with you… so you get the direct mentoring and also
this opportunity to explore something that’s important to
them.

Researching adventuring may or may not incorporate active teaching.

Laboratory assistants, post- doctoral appointments, or student interns
are sometimes present in laboratories or the field, but for the most

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part, researching adventuring is focused on solving problems. Franklin

and McClintock studied DNA to answer specific questions (Fox Keller,
1983; Sayre, 1975); in commercial laboratories researching may be
done to create product; in ecological or field research, observation is
employed for better understanding (Montgomery, 1991). Researching
behaviors relate directly to adventuring by being examples of
exploration, skill application, and creative problem solving. The
mechanics of adventuring include overlapping, recursive, branching,
confluence, compiling, creating, and synthesizing skills, all of which
are deliberately taught.

Consequences of Adventuring

The positive consequences of adventuring include a sense of

fulfillment in experiencing a full life of the mind. Fun and playing are
high interest motivators, and those who adventure seek out situations
wherein fun is a component. When adventuring, a person achieves
satisfaction of doing what s/he is good at, and has a sense of freedom
and control over his or her own intellect and career trajectory. The
integration of skills develops self-confidence, and when choices
are available they are often self-identified: “I love my job!” was said
repeatedly in interviews. The participants felt that it is rewarding to do
something they love, and to do it well.

There are negative consequences of the choice to pursue adventuring.

Long days in the classroom and/or lab, tiredness, burnout, or hyper-
focus can produce an imbalance in the mind/body/spirit realms, stress,
illness. There is a need to protect one’s work from potential plagiarism,
and time management is problematical, “There is never enough time
to do it all”, “It’s hard to balance it all “. For most, there were personal
choices regarding partner relationships, family, geographic locations,
travel, on so on.

Yeah, I had to make choices after [grad] school and it was

hard, it was hard to leave a relationship, but I hated [where
she was living]. I just had to live in the country, so I could have
all this and develop my practice, too.

The Categories of Adventuring

The three main categories of adventuring are exploring, mavericking,

and acquiring/applying new skills and knowledge.

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Exploring

In adventuring, teachers and learners of science explore their

ways into mysteries, and use skills to understand how things
work. Exploring involves questioning. Sir Edmund Hillary, the first
European (and most public figure) to climb Mount Everest and return,
was clearly questioning the formidable mountain environment for
scientific and personal reasons (Morris, 2003). The botanists and
anthropologists who opened the western world to Africa, the secrets
of ancient Egyptians, the evolutionary origins of humans, Armstrong
and his colleagues who stepped on the soil of our moon-- these
men and women exemplified exploration in the name of science.
Indeed, the brave, talented, knowledgeable, and well-backed Lewis
and Clark expedition may be the epitome of our cultural icon, The
Explorer (Duncan & Burns, 1997). Ultimately, contribution to scientific
knowledge, and therefore a greater understanding of humanity’s place
in the global system are the goals and objectives of exploring.

A college professor interviewed said: “I still want each student to

find their strengths and to have a well-rounded experience like I had
during my PhD.” Her students had the opportunity to explore a variety
of topics before they chose their senior thesis. “You give them an
opportunity to be involved in some kind of project and they find they
really enjoy that. It’s supposed to be a time of exploration.” In two
high school science classes observed, students actively explored live
organisms. In a marine biology class, students were given live snails
and asked to design an experiment with them; in a biology class,
students were shown cryptogams and asked to observe the structure
and form of the various specimens.

A Shift from Fear to Curiosity: The First Scientific Questions

The hominids Homo habilis, H. erectus, and H. sapiens neanderthalensis

began their extraordinary evolution toward modern Homo sapiens
sapiens in a milieu that included rapid climate change and increasing
diversification of all life forms some 1.5 million years ago (Wilson,
1992). The increased use of symbolic language, communication,
social order, representative art (Donald, 1991), and the beginnings of
science adventuring thinking happened simultaneously during the mid
to late Pleistocene epoch. Brain anatomy and function, particularly
the amygdala response to stimuli 1 and the enlarging prefrontal
cortex2, were essential for the development of scientific cognition in

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the hominid. Adventuring behaviors probably evolved as questioning,

discriminating, and exploring the environment (rudimentary “scientific
thinking”) became the normal behavior of the hominid. Donald (1991)
described the evolution of the Homo brain by noting three anatomical
markers in the fossil record: (a) the rise of bipedalism at approximately
4 million years ago, (b) a significant enlargement of the skull between
the species Australopithecus and Homo habilis at 2 million years ago,
and (c) a second increase in skull capacity (and therefore a larger
brain) with the change from Homo erectus to archaic Homo sapiens
at 120,000 years ago. It is probable that a shift in the hominid response
to an alien object or event happened due to the animal’s interaction
with an increasingly diverse environment, and resulted in exploration
and the beginnings of adventuring behaviors.

From the “immediate flee” response to the unknown, H. sapiens

neanderthalensis developed curiosity and discrimination: “What is
this? Will it help or hurt me? Is it poisonous or eatable?” The animal
now experimented, tested, and explained its surroundings. Ultimately
this shift led to large brains, distinct culture and language, scientific
thought processes based on the possibilities of the unknown rather
than fear of the unknown, and the adventuring behaviors exhibited
today by the large brained, sophisticated Homo sapiens sapiens.

Fun

The property of fun includes having interesting and new issues to

work with. Through experimenting, discovering and researching a
variety of issues, interest is kept high, leading to strong motivation to
continue the exploration and sustaining the fun. Sometimes having
fun is solitary, sometimes experienced with teamwork. The freedom to
play, have fun, and the accompanying self-autonomy is an essential
element in exploring.

I love teaching, it’s fun. ……We did some stuff on plants, and the
genes, I liked the genes, it was fun. It was interesting to see the
particular things, vertebrates, phylums, cool, yeah, we dissected
a starfish...before that we did mealworms, but those weren’t very
exciting, those were boring...Oh we did snails, too. I had a snail
friend Larry; we did stuff with them, and wrote a report.

Play

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Curiosity is fun. An integral aspect of the cogitative and behavioral

shift from fear to curiosity was the element of fun. From the earliest
mentions of games by the ancient Greek writers to the research
conducted at universities on children’s play development, play theory
has emphasized the presence of curiosity in the playing individual
(Levy, 1978). Levy established three criteria for the definition of
play: intrinsic motivation, suspension of reality, and internal locus of
control. Humans are stimulus seekers, and will distinguish among the
intensity, meaningfulness, and variation of play activities. “Play is the
behavior that maintains optimal flow of stimulation for the individual”
(Levy, 1978, p.132).
Play is spontaneous, free form, can occur with others or with one’s
self, and is creative. Gaming is a zero-sum event (I win, therefore
you lose), is organized or rule based, happens against others, and is
structured. Both playing for the sake of playing, and gaming with rules
occur while exploring in adventuring - playing around, playing with,
messing around, having fun with. One working scientist interviewed
stated that fun is a corporate fundamental value that she was rated on
in her yearly evaluations for promotion. In adventuring, the element of
fun is important for maintaining a high level of interest and therefore is
a motivating factor. Each one of the interviews studied mentioned fun
or the pleasurable nature of work.
Levy’s (1978) first criterion for the definition of play is that the
behavior has intrinsic motivation. Play is not forced, structured, or
bounded by external forces. Play disintegrates into duty if rewarded.
In adventuring behaviors, there is a strong internal drive--a passion
for the work that at times exceeds common sense regarding the
balance of time/effort and direct compensation, financial or otherwise.
In fact, adventuring may put a person in a position of lower financial
compensation, acceptable because of the wish to maintain the
adventuring state. Fulfillment, happiness, the sense of well being, and
tangible contributions to the greater good are attributes of adventuring
that are not externally rewarded. The development of play behaviors
in children is an important precursor to having fun in adventuring
situations later in their academic or professional lives.

Variable Tasking

Variable tasking encompasses behavior that occurs in laboratory

investigation situations. Variable tasking involves doing a number of

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different tasks, sometimes simultaneously. It is fun, it has variety, it has

novelty, and each step has rules. It is a game. There are parameters
around each task (rules), steps that must be taken in sequence. There
are time boundaries (an experiment may be timed for reaction/ etc.),
or there are external time pressures (got to get it to market; beat the
other scientists to publish; the class period is only a certain number
of minutes long). There are protocols/processes to follow that are
important for replication and for learning.

Variable tasking also has an end point: There is a result. This result
informs the next task (often, if the variable tasks are a series of
experiments, each builds on the previous). A product, a new hypothesis,
a variation of a theory, a new something is produced. Multi-tasking is
characterized by tasks that are not necessarily connected, whereas
variable tasks are interrelated, sequential and/or recursive. Behaviors
that illustrate variable tasking are those conducted in the laboratory,
such as experimenting, where tasks are serial and orderly. Training
is necessary for the use of instruments (microscopes, cameras,
etc.) and cognitive skills are required, particularly the ability to follow
protocols in a step-wise manner, and the ability to question the fitness
of an event. A research scientist described her day:

I can come in and run a test, organize it, take a break for lunch
then do the assay in the afternoon. If I can finish my assay
early enough when I can get back to my desk for a couple of
hours, and either read a report, write a report, do my data, go
to a meeting.

The teachers observed engaged in variable tasking by having clearly

defined sections during the 45-minute class periods. For instance, in
a chemistry class, the teacher started with the review of a test taken
the previous day, then introduced new material, then had the students
talk in small groups, then reviewed what they had come up with. Each
task had a defined beginning, middle, and end, which was explicitly
identified by the teacher for the students. In a marine biology class,
again, the teacher had clearly defined sections to the class period:
preview of assignments and activities to come, preview of the day’s
activity and the activity itself.

In each class, the tasks had parameters of time (10- to 12-minute

intervals), a clearly defined process for covering the material, and an
end point defined both by the class period allocation but also by the
completion of the task. Each task was related but could stand alone.

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Incidentally, this process modeled scientific investigation for the

students by explicitly identifying tasks to accomplish and then carrying
out the tasks.

The following characteristics are found in variable tasking:

organization, interest, skills, flexibility, high energy, patience,
sometimes teamwork, independence, confidence in self, confidence
from peers or supervisor, strong sequential thinking, and creative
thinking. These are similar to the “science cognition” skills identified
by Milani (1987) in a study skill workbook (see introduction). Play also
relates to the exploring nature of variable tasking. The high level of
interest and resulting stimulus, time parameters, and an end result are
similar to the process of playing a game. Many games have strategy,
a linear progression of events, and an eventual outcome that parallel
the experience of a scientist adventuring in a laboratory. For instance,
card games have rules and laboratory experiments follow protocol;
card games can be played solo, in pairs or groups, and an individual
scientist or the research teams work separately or together; card
games have a winner at an end point; laboratory work has results to
be analyzed and reported in a final document.

Playing around with data and ideas in the tangible world or inside
one’s head is not particular to scientists. What makes these behaviors
interesting and adventuring is the nature of the thought process.
The questioning, observation, experimenting, and analyzing of the
exploring dimension is highly creative and risky. The property of
mavericking explains the type of exploring that makes adventuring
applicable to science teaching and learning.

Mavericking

Scientists are curious; they seek adventure and answers to explain

the natural world, the “the other”, “ the unknown”. In ancient times,
this mode of thinking may have been an imperative to survival, but at
a more recent point, it became a luxury. Some cultures today value
this way of thinking so highly that educational institutions are required
to teach children scientific thinking. For example, each public school
child is exposed to a variety of natural sciences in the United States
general curriculum3, and is expected to be scientifically literate by
the end of the legally mandated schooling period (AAAS, 1991; NSF,
1996).

The mavericking category of adventuring includes taking a stand

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that is independent from others in a group. Accepting challenge,

taking risks, and solving problems creatively are important, but the
distinguishing behavior in mavericking is that exciting and unusual
experiences, either mental or physical, are actively pursued.
Properties of mavericking include actively seeking hard work and
advancing into unknowns (whether it be an hypothesis, a forest, or a
classroom) actively, deliberately, and with preparation.

People think that it must be really horrible in science when

the idea that you have turns out not to be true, but I find the
opposite almost--because when what you thought was going
to happen isn’t true, you’re surprised. And I find that really
great! I love it!

Mavericking may include pursuing a different career path than

expected, or being viewed by others as different.

Other members of my family think I’m sort of weird because I

didn’t get married … the typical type of thing… [growing up on
a farm] it wasn’t the kind of 9 to 5, five days a week existence
that seems to be the general norm now--certainly something
I still can’t do.

When I was in high school, I was not a particularly social

person; I had friends, but they were all slightly odd people
with unusual aspirations.

Challenge is exciting and fun. Speculation is joyous. Thinking about

things from different angles, being open to new ideas, and continually
moving onto the next event are important properties of mavericking.

[in] some areas [of teaching] I feel really confident, and some
areas, I’m like whooooo! what have I got myself into?? So I’m
pretty adventurous as far as that goes, I don’t mind just trying
something else, I try to be as responsible as I can, like the
course [a new class] that I’m teaching right now… it’s not the
typical type of assessment that I’m used to doing, so that’s
what I mean by trying something different, all my tools of the
trade don’t work in a course like that. What do people do when
they teach a course like this? [laughs]…so I’m willing to try
certain things.

Being brave, open, and curious; having self-confidence, drive, energy

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and passion for work all distinguish the category of mavericking.

My friend C and I tried to get them [snails in their experiment]

to race…hers against mine, along a ruler to the other end, but
it didn’t work, they were climbing all over the rulers…but we
tried lots of things.

Mavericking presupposes that physical and basic survival needs

are fulfilled (one’s salary covers the rent) and that there are more
important, interesting, and fun tasks with which to fill the days. In
addition, mavericking behaviors are by necessity highly creative. The
type of thinking that characterizes and informs mavericking may be
a byproduct of a personality style, but the behaviors that encompass
mavericking in the adventuring context are supported by deliberate
instruction in skills training. The acquisition and application of specific
cognitive and mechanical skills that are necessary to mavericking are
discussed below.

Acquiring and Applying Skills

A new scientific theory is seldom or never just an increment

to what is already known. Its assimilation requires the
reconstruction or prior theory and the re-evaluation of prior
fact, an intrinsically revolutionary process that is seldom
completed by a single man and never overnight. (Kuhn, 1970,
p.7)

The category of acquiring and applying skills includes the properties

of tool use (both cognitive and mechanical), absorbing lessons, and
foresight. Acquiring and applying skills is fun, creative, and satisfying.
As a person gets better at a skill, applies it to the task, game, or
adventure, s/he becomes satisfied and challenged at the same time.
S/he wants to do it again, do more, take on the next question, seek
new adventures--strive, conquer, and apply to a new scenario. Each
of the interviews examined for this study exemplified these behaviors
through curiosity, passion, and alternative approaches to discovering
and researching scientific questions.

The recursive nature of acquiring and applying skills requires behaviors

that build upon one another in a constant, spiral, and integrated way.
Combining previously unconnected elements to synthesize and
converge theory is the basic nature of scientific inquiry.

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I do think that science, science thinking requires a certain

training of the mind, at least for me it did. I have my science
side that thinks through logically, then I have my other side
that is a release from that way of thinking, so I don’t have to
think that way…a lot of folks don’t understand that it took a lot
of training to do that, and that a lot of our students can’t just
pick up and think like that.

Tool Use

Acquiring and applying skills through tool use happens in both the
cognitive and mechanical realms of behavior:

Cognitive tool use (language; ability to synthesize, recombine,

and recurse; mathematics).

In order to relate the cognitive skills of Homo sapiens sapiens to

the behaviors of acquiring and applying skills, it is important to
understand the evolutionary development of the hominid brain.
During the Pleistocene epoch, (12-1.5 million years before the
present) earth’s climate was highly varied. In the north, glaciers
came and went; in the south, torrential rains called pluvials stopped
and started, and there was great diversification among species in
response to environmental change (Morgan, 1972; Wilson, 1992).
The early hominid Australopithecus eventually became extinct as
hominid radiation (diversification of the species) increased and
Homo species became dominant.4 The animal evolving into Homo
sapiens neanderthalensis had to develop a toolbox of cognitive
skills to deal with the variety of climatic conditions, rivals, and food
sources. Buss (1999) stated that humans evolved psychological
mechanism (sets of procedures) designed to take in specific
information, transform such information through decision-making
rules (if…then…) into output that solved an adaptive problem
faced by the animal.

For instance, the hominid had to create a question in order to

make a decision about a food source: “If I eat this, will I then be
sick?” The formulation of questions involves a more sophisticated
cognitive relationship with the environment than previously
needed. As problems became more specific, psychological
mechanisms tailored to such events evolved, leading to behavior

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which was flexible, adaptive, and extremely complex (Buss,

1999). It was during this time that scientific thinking became
necessary for the long- term survival and ultimate evolution of
the hominid brain into the magnificently complex mind present in
Homo sapiens sapiens. Without the cognitive tool of questioning,
adventuring is not possible, and without language, science is not
comprehensible.

Donald (1991) theorized that human language developed in

tandem with human culture. “[Human culture] is [an] integrated
pattern of adaptation, a complete survival strategy. It forms
the larger framework into which various cognitive components
…including language must be fitted” (Donald, 1991, p. 201).
Language started from concrete, environment-bound, and
episodic culture in the early hominid groups. As Homo erectus
developed the larger brain, vocal apparatus, and more complex
social organization (including cooperation in procuring food), a
cultural shift occurred. Thus a mimetic culture utilized gesture to
represent action. As time advanced, the mimetic culture began
to integrate knowledge and develop mythic representations to
“explain” natural events, and to record behaviors (Donald, 1991).

Archaic humans developed linguistic speech as vocal organs

became more complex and skulls modified to provide space for
a tongue, larynx, and pharynx. External storage for memories
(pictures represented things) and theoretical construction began
to emerge at this time (Donald, 1991). Symbolic language, both
written and spoken, are essential cognitive tools for adventuring.
Scientific language is distinct from the jargon used in other
academic disciplines, and is often reported as a significant barrier
to science learning for students (AAAS, 1991; Levine, 1987).

Mechanical tool use (scientific instruments, computers)

Basic training on methods of using scientific instruments in the

laboratory or field, computers, measuring devises, and so on
are important aspects of acquiring and applying skills specific
to the task at hand. A participant talked about the different
activities she did in class to learn science: experiments with living
organisms, dissections, memorization, crossword puzzles, tests,
quizzes, “hands-on games,” videos, slides, writing reports. Also,
students had pets for which they had the responsibility of feeding,
observing, and experimenting with while keeping them alive.

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Other skills taught were graphing, using mathematics, taking

notes from the board, reading scientific language. One student
explained what was covered the year before:

Temperature and time, graphing, seeing how the temperature

rose, how long it took, here’s my lab report: “prove the density
of water”, graphing, yeah, we do that in math, too.

Absorbing lessons

Learning from parents, mentors, teachers, or colleagues and taking

advantage of opportunities and developing foresight are properties of
acquiring and applying skills.

I never had the type of advice that, oh, girls don’t do that sort
of thing. Any kind of biased upbringing just never occurred to
my parents.

My Ph.D. experience was wonderful because I had a great

advisor: Dr. Y-- was great, she didn’t throw me to the wolves…
but my postdoc was disastrous due to a witch of an advisor…it
was horrible, she had no patience, was mean.

Childhood experiences impact the development of skills. One

interviewee described “playing” as picking up a volume of the
encyclopedia:

I remember I would often pick up H because it had horses

in it, but once I was in H, I would read about Hindus, I would
read about what ever….and that somehow fed into getting
interested in more advanced stuff. It’s not that the actual
material I was reading was significant, but it gave me a
sense of connectedness later, with things that really were
advanced.

Acquiring skills both cognitive and mechanical, and then applying

such skills to science teaching and learning can be placed within
developmental considerations, and should be carefully considered
within educational contexts. Adventuring, both in and out of the
classroom, may hold significant importance to advancing science
education change.

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Discussion

What is “scientific thinking”? What is scientific language? Why do we

distinguish between the language of teaching humanities and teaching
science and mathematics? Our universities are divided into schools of
Humanities or Sciences, and it is rare that a person excels in both
realms. But why do we make these distinctions and what ramifications
does this segregation have to how we teach, and how we learn? The
answer lies in the development of theoretical symbolic and highly
complex language developed by archaic Homo sapiens and refined,
expanded, and perfected by Homo sapiens sapiens.

In our current educational system, according to Donald (1991),

the narrative mode of thinking is represented by the literary arts,
and the analytic mode of thought in science, law, and government.
Narrative and mythic modes of thought attribute significance to
events by modeling and linking by analogy. These processes are
attributed by Donald to the ancestral mimetic culture of the Upper
Paleolithic and Neolithic time periods, and are encompassed by the
more sophisticated analytic thought. Products of analytic thought are
formal argument, systematic taxonomies, inductive and deductive
analysis, verification, differentiation, quantification, idealization, and
formal measurement. Theoretical thought is the highest level product
because it is a system which predicts and explains (Donald, 1991).

Science education to date has focused on mastering content: facts

and vocabulary must be memorized and spit back in laboratory reports
and on examinations (Byrnes 1996; Kuhn, 1970; NSF, 1996; Polloway
& Patton, 1993; Wyckoff, 2001; Shepherd, 1993). The traditional
teaching of science to undergraduates, according to Wyckoff (2001),
is through lecture. Wyckoff maintained that this reliance on a clearly
demonstrated ineffective teaching style is the major limiting factor in
the quality of science education in the United States.

Scientific thinking is characterized by certain reasoning processes:

deduction, induction, inference, interpretation, systematic classification,
recursiveness, receptive and expressive communication, and
mathematical abilities. And science is hard. It takes practice, discipline,
experience, and a level of intellectual maturity to successfully
negotiate scientific thought processes. Understanding and taking
advantage of the adventuring nature of teaching and learning science
can strip away some of those mysterious and intimidating qualities. A
participant in this study said, “You don’t have to be a particular type

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of person to do science, or to enjoy science.” That statement may be

true, however, science thinking and learning uses specialized cognitive
processes that can be actively fostered in students by informed,
creative, and adventuresome teaching. If, as Polloway and Patton
(1993) stated, the three main dimensions of science learning and the
associated cognitive skills are information acquisition: observation,
listening, reading, study skills, directed experimentation; information
processing: organization, analysis, classification; and information
integration: synthesis, hypothesis, independent experimentation,
generalization, evaluation; then the theory of adventuring is clearly
relevant to the effective teaching of those skills.

Student success in science courses structured in nontraditional ways

was examined (Allen, Tainter, Pires, & Hoekstra, 2001; Krupa, 2000;
Reiss & Tunnicliffe, 1999; Wyckoff, 2001) and were noted in the NSF
and AAAS studies mentioned above. There is consensus that a shift
from lecture style dissemination to inquiry-based and experiential
modalities, along with the incorporation of multi-sensory approaches
may enhance scientific thinking skill development for students.

Although it is a cognitive tool of scientific discovery, linear thinking may

be the hardest aspect of science literacy to teach students. Adolescent
students are at the cognitive development stage where moving from
concrete ideas about the way the world works and the very nature of
science to the realization that science does not create truth. This is a
stunningly difficult notion. Students must be able to hold contradictory
statements of fact in their minds and, at the same time, draw on what
they know to reach the logical conclusion expected by the teacher
or the task. To teach the notion that science thinking tools include
approaching the data from an altogether different angle--a creative,
nonlinear, and perhaps a spiral approach, indeed a mavericking
approach, would clearly benefit adolescent students.

Adventuring in the Classroom

The best science teaching methods rely on one-on-one attention. In

classrooms observed for this study, laboratory periods were spent
with the teacher directing each student in the way that that particular
student received instruction. Teaching diagnostically was important,
but the challenge to balance skill and content instruction, keeping
student interest high and output rigorous, while also attending to the
particular “science” cognitive tools could be overwhelming.

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Teachers observed rose to this challenge in a number of highly

creative and effective ways. Students were subjected to a variety
of multimodal instruction. For instance, a final exam in an anatomy
class included a scavenger hunt all over campus to collect bones to
complete a human skeleton and answer specific concept questions.
Alternative evaluation mechanisms such as multimedia presentations,
posters, kinesthetic representations (via dance) as well as written
papers to show mastery of the material were assigned. Chemistry
laboratory experiences were inquiry based rather than “cookbook
chem labs.” Students were taught to ask questions about chemical
principles, then design their own activities to find the answers.
Faculty also incorporated course worldwide web pages to facilitate
communication; used computer-generated presentations for lectures;
used computer compact disk programs, videos, and other assistive
technology to enhance the multimodal presentations of material. Field
trips and field research on campus were also widely used by science
faculty. A variety of teaching modalities is essential when reaching
adolescent students.

In addition to all the academic requirements of their time and energy,

secondary and college students face the typical adolescent issues
of identity, cognitive readiness for higher order thinking, parental
expectations, stimulating environments away from home, availability
of alcohol, drugs, and sex. Students may or may not be engaged in
their own intellectual growth, no matter what they think their purpose
is at school. Educators can tap into the evolutionary aspects of
challenge and risk, and in so doing, provide a hook on which students
may hang their learning. Adventuring is an effective model for a variety
of teaching situations and is applicable to all learners.

By applying adventuring behaviors to everyday work, teachers and

learners could enhance their experiences and deepen their thinking
skills. It is easy to be critical of education today, but there is a world
of information about how the brain works vis à vis development of
reasoning and higher order cognition. Articles about creative ways
to ensure engagement and inquiry about, in particular, scientific
principles, are published regularly in teaching and research journals.

The National Science Foundation’s year-long review of postsecondary

science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SME&T) teaching,
published as Shaping Our Future in 1996, states that there were
significant advancements in undergraduate teaching methods since
the previous study (the Neal Report of 1986). However, much more

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needs to be done to assure that United States students learn science

and that teachers are prepared to teach SME&T. Recommendations
from the 1996 NSF report include specific charges for higher education
faculty, departments, administrators and accrediting agencies as well
as local governments, industry, media, and nearly every echelon of
our society up to the White House. The recommendations relevant to
the current argument include:

SME&T faculty: Believe and affirm that every student can

learn, and model good practices that increase learning; start
with the student’s experience, but have high expectations
within a supportive climate; and build inquiry, a sense of
wonder and the excitement of discovery, plus communication
and teamwork, critical thinking, and life-long learning skills
into learning experiences. (NSF, 1996, p. 3) (emphasis mine)

The NSF recommendations are all about adventuring. They are

sound, sensible approaches to ensuring that pedagogy, praxis, data
about how the brain works, and classroom experiences are linked
for the best learning environments in science classrooms. There are
ramifications to changing the way our nation educates students in
science and how we train teachers to teach science. If we approach
the adventure of science learning with all of our evolved cognitive
tools and in a manner that honors exploration, mavericking, and
skill acquisition and application, we could better serve the variety
of learners in each classroom. Changing from lecture instruction to
multimodal and experiential learning works. The use of a variety of
instructional techniques is grounded in sound scientific research and
reminds us that student success is at the heart of this debate.

Further Questions
Due to time constrains inherent in doctoral research, additional
theoretical sampling is warranted. For instance, questions emergent
from the study include:

Do men and women adventure differently? Gender research

clearly shows significant differences between men’s and
women’s approaches to the world, both cognitive and
behavioral (Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule, 1986;
Gilligan, 1982; Shepherd, 1993), and recent comments
by Harvard University President Lawrence Summers
(Bombardieri, 2005) questioning whether there is an “innate”

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reason for the paucity of women in upper level science

research begs to be completely and finally answered.

What is the underlying neuro-chemistry that creates the

behaviors of adventuring? Brain research is currently
advancing rapidly and new information about how the brain
works is appearing almost daily. How can these discoveries
be used to understand and promote adventuring?

What are some practical methods of encouraging adventuring

in all classrooms? Curriculum design is important, but the
training of teachers to be systems thinkers, gestalt oriented,
and strong tool users is perhaps more vital to the long- term
success of teaching and learning in our schools. Teacher
education is important to encourage adventuring. What would
a program for teachers include?

Conclusions

The theory of adventuring gives insights into how teachers and

learners of science behave. Adventuring accounts for a variety of
actions and thought processes found in the participants of this study.
The next step is to answer the forgoing questions in relation to the
dimensions and categories of adventuring, and create an education
program that encourages adventuring in teaching and learning.

We use adventuring in our sophisticated, structured, systematic

study of the unknown because we evolved from a newly bipedal,
hairless, episodic-culture-based archaic Homo to the highly complex,
sophisticated, and huge-brained Homo sapiens sapiens we are today.
By tracing the evolution of the behavior, I offer the proposal that by
understanding the origins of our brain/mind as an explanation of
the adventuring behaviors we find in scientists today, we can better
teach and learn scientific constructs so vital to our society, our
planet, and our future. A citizen must not forfeit her right to engage in
government because of ignorance. A citizen must be able to express
his understanding of issues that impact his life.

Science is about questions: The natural world is mysterious. Nature

is the ultimate “other”, and humans have evolved a great brain partly
because of the big questions, the higher cognition required to discuss,
interpret, and answer questions about the essential nature of Nature.

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All the evolutionary adaptations we now enjoy were directly influenced

by our environment: climate, landforms, vegetation, and fauna co-
evolved. Scientists use their intellectual skills to attempt to understand
and strip away mysteries, to get to the unifying principle. Long before
Aristotle humans have wondered, experimented, thought deeply about
results, and observed natural forces. We are a curious species.

Adventuring in science is ultimately about creating imaginary results

and playing around with tests and materials until that result is realized.
The classroom or lab is a playground for the creative, highly trained,
passionate re-- searcher. Approaching teaching and learning from an
adventuring context, as demonstrated by the scientists and learners
researched for this study, would make the cognitive complexity of
science accessible to all learners.

End Notes
5
The amygdala is a small organ within the limbic system of the brain
that is responsible for “fight or flight” decisions (Stefanacci, 2003).

2
The area directly behind the eyes in the brain which is responsible
for the processing of concepts such as time, sequencing and
discrimination between two objects (Barkley, 1999).

3
In New England, school children take earth science, physics,
environmental science, and biology introductory courses in middle
school. Each class is revisited in high school as part of general
education requirements.

4
At one time, two species of Australopithecus and two species of
Homo existed simultaneously (Campbell, 1996).

Author

Katrina M. Maloney, M.Sc., Ed.D.

400 Old Chesham Road
Marlborough, NH 03455
603/876-4102
[email protected]

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Doing Best for Children: An emerging

grounded theory of parents’ policing
strategies to regulate between-meal
snacking
By Ruth Freeman, Ph.D.; Richard Ekins, Ph.D. & Michele Oliver,
M.Med.Sc.

Abstract

Changes in children’s lifestyle from structured family meals to

unstructured between meal sugar snacking has been recognised
as a risk factor in childhood obesity. Parental insights into children’s
between meal snacking and their experiences of regulation are
important if an understanding of sugar snacking is to be gained in the
field of childhood obesity. The aim of this study was to use grounded
theory techniques to analyze the qualitative data obtained from
participants and to generate an emerging theory of snack regulation. A
series of focus groups with parents and their children were conducted.
Data were analysed using grounded theory techniques. The core
category that emerged from the data was ‘doing best’. Parents used
the behavioural strategy of policing as a consequence of doing best.
Parents had to balance time availability, disposable income, energy
levels, parental working patterns and family life with the child’s food
wishes and social needs. Balancing such contextual constraints
influenced the style of policing.

Introduction

The World Health Organization (WHO, 2002) has stated that added
and refined sugars should contribute to no more than 10 percent
of an individual’s total calorific intake. Recent research has shown
that the average teenager obtains 20 percent of their calories from
added sugars and consumes on average 50kg of sugar/person/year
(Sibbald 2003). The increased sugar consumption has been linked
to the steep rise in childhood obesity and particularly in children living
in deprivation and poverty (Strauss, 2002; Lobstein and Frelut, 2003;
Lobstein et al., 2003).

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Childhood obesity is associated with increased health risks in

childhood, reduced self-esteem (Sarlio-Lahteenkorva et al., 2003,
Sahota et al 2001), and quality of life (Friedlander et al., 2003).
Childhood obesity acts as an independent risk factor for adult obesity
(Tingay et al., 2003) and is linked with adult cardiovascular disease,
adult onset diabetes, osteoarthritis and cerebral vascular accident
(Parsons et al., 1999) as well as low-income work and poverty (Tingay
et al., 2003). Childhood obesity, with its many health, social and
life-course consequences, is perceived as a harbinger of adult ills
(National Institute for Clinical Excellence [NICE], 2004).

Various suggestions have been proposed to explain the increasing

prevalence of childhood obesity. These include the food industry
flooding the marketplace with cheap high-sugar and high-fat foods
(Sibbald, 2003), the absence of readily available low-cost healthy
foods (Alderson and Ogden, 1999; Bunting and Freeman, 1999)
and shifts in structured family mealtimes to childhood between meal
snacking (Feunekes et al., 1999; Strauss, 2002). Reasons given by
families for changing from structured to unstructured eating patterns
are important in the childhood obesity story (Alderson and Ogden,
1999; Feunekes et al., 1999). Therefore, this research team embarked
upon an investigation to increase understanding of this unstructured
pattern of sugar intake in children.

Qualitative data was collected as part of a larger controlled trial (Oliver

et al., 2002), which evaluated the role of school-based snacking
policies upon the consumption of snack foods in 9 and 11-year-old
children. As it was important to discover if school-based policies
affected the children’s out-of-school snacking, parents and children
were approached to canvass their views and opinions on regulating
snacking between meals. The aim of this study was to use grounded
theory techniques to analyze the qualitative data obtained from
participants and to generate an emerging theory on snack regulation.

The Research Context

Participants in this study came from the Southern Health and Social
Services Board (SHSSB), located in Northern Ireland (NI). In this
area, the majority of schools tend to be in small towns or villages.
All SHSSB primary schools were classified by socio-economic status
(SES) in accordance with the NI Department of Education’s use of

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free school meal entitlement (FSMs). This is an aggregate-level

measure of poverty, low-income and social deprivation. Currently,
25 percent of all NI primary school children are entitled to FSMs
(Department of Education, Northern Ireland [DENI], 2001) which
reflects the proportion of children living on or below the poverty line
(Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency [NISRA], 2003).
Schools were classified as middle SES schools if up to 15% of the
children were in receipt FSMs and classified as low SES schools if
40% or more children were provided with FSMs.

Participants

Sixteen primary schools were selected from 54 primary schools in

the SHSSB region. Eight schools were classified as middle SES
schools and 8 schools were classified as low SES schools. Three
hundred and sixty-four children attended the selected schools. A
twenty-five percent random sample of children (n=91) was selected
by researchers using computer generated random numbers. Ninety-
one invitations to participate, together with parental and child
information leaflets, written consents, were distributed by Year 5 and
Year 7 teachers. Ethical approval was obtained from the local ethical
research committee.

Sixty-four Caucasian children (forty 9-year-old children and twenty-

four 11-year-old children) and their parents agreed to take part. Fifty-
one percent (n=33) of the children were girls. Twenty-eight children
attended low SES schools and 36 children attended middle SES
schools, which reflected the SES and ethnic profile of the SHSSB
region (NISRA, 2003; DENI, 2001).

The focus group discussions

Parents and children were interviewed separately using a focus group

format. Two sets of 8 focus group discussions took place with parents
and children over an eight-week period. As the interviews continued,
the researchers deliberately chose fathers in order to develop new
concepts and ideas that emerged from the data. For instance, fathers
acted more erratically than mothers, for example using the child’s
weight on one occasion to refuse money for sweets but on another
occasion giving the same child money for snacks.

The interviews took place in a variety of agreed settings. The children

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and parents were asked to focus upon their attitudes towards a range
of issues associated with healthy eating. The children and parents
were invited to talk about any subject they wished to, to refuse to
pursue any topics they found disagreeable and to close the interview
at their request. Refreshments for the participants were provided. All
groups were audio-taped for transcription.

Qualitative data analysis

The qualitative data in this study were analysed using grounded

theory techniques. Grounded theory is a general method of data
analysis leading to conceptualization. The methodology entails (1)
the generation of substantive categories, (2) creating definitions of
and linkages between categories at different levels of abstraction
and (3) making constant comparisons between cases, instances and
categories in order to explore fully the complexities of a data corpus.
While grounded theory uses a systematically applied set of methods
to generate an inductive theory about a substantive or formal area, it
is also useful as a set of techniques to analyze data in a qualitative
study. The latter approach was applied to this study. The focus of
this qualitative exploration was how parents regulated their children’s
between meal snacking.

In any grounded theory study, whether the aim is to generate theory

or simply analyze data, the research purpose is to clarify the main
concern and find out how participants resolve that concern. The
resolution of the main concern forms the core category. The core
category accounts for most of the variations in a pattern of behaviour
(Glaser, 1992).

The procedures and techniques of grounded theory followed in

this study were that of open and selective coding. As mentioned
previously, the data analysis was conducted as part of a controlled
trial and this constrained the researchers’ ability to conduct theoretical
sampling. The controlled trial allowed for a longitudinal and in-depth
quantitative analysis of child reported and actual snacking behaviours
in the school environment (Oliver et al., 2002). It did not provide an
insight into what happened at home. It was decided to collect parents’
views and opinions on the regulation of their children’s between
meal snacking. The rigor of the ethical committee together with the
constraints of time meant that it was impossible to conduct theoretical

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sampling. Nevertheless, this study describes an emerging grounded

theory as a core category gradually appeared during the analysis of
the data.

The Research Findings

Doing Best – The Core Category

The core category that emerged from the data was ‘doing best’. The
desire to do best was consistent across all parents irrespective of
socio-economic status or household budget; however, for some
parents doing best was hard to achieve. Constraints such as time
availability, energy levels and parental working patterns all influenced
the parents’ resolve to enforce the family’s regimes that ensured their
children were getting the best.

This was apparent when mothers and fathers tried to do their best
to provide a healthy diet for their children. Parents did not wish their
children to snack between meals and in some families sugar snacks
were only eaten at week-ends. In other families, children were allowed
the snack of their choice if they ‘ask permission first’, ‘ate good food
first’ and ‘only if they shared [with others]’. Other parents provided
a limited supply of snacks for all the family. The children could help
themselves, however, once the snacks were eaten no more would be
provided. A final group of parents provided a constant supply of sugar
snacks and allowed children to snack at anytime as they believed this
was ‘doing the best for [their] child’.

The concern with doing their best for their children was also affected
by parental ability to be consistent. The degree of consistency with
which parents enforced their family snacking regimes varied between
parents, families and households. Fears about greediness or a child’s
lack of food intake, for example, gave rise to compromises. Children
who nagged, children who were sick or who had poor appetites were
allowed to consume large amounts of snack foods. It seemed that
the consistency of the enforcement of the family snacking regime was
dependent upon a power tussle between the parents’ resolve to do best
for their children and the child’s persistence to get snacks. Because
variation in parental determination to enforce family snacking regimes
existed, it became possible to conceptualize the strategy employed to
do best as policing. Two policing styles emerged – these were hard

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policing and soft policing.

Hard policing

Hard policing was a consequence of doing best. Hard policing was

a dictatorial and strict mode of enforcement. Mothers spoke of being
resolute and consistent in their control of the family food regimes.

The cultivation of healthy (good) eating habits was of central

importance to parents. Being initiated into the compulsory elements of
the families’ between meal sugar snacking policies meant that young
children were acquainted with the household’s food directives:

If you don’t eat your food, like, you just eat a little bit of your
dinner and go out and then come back in looking for sweets or
biscuits – you won’t get any. If I don’t eat all my dinner I don’t
get any chocolate bars. Mummy says, ‘If you don’t have room
for good food you don’t have room for rubbish’. (Child 32)

I wouldn’t ask – she [mother] just gives me what I am allowed

– just on Friday – that’s only when I’m allowed sweets,
biscuits and cola. (Child 9)

The consistency and rigor of the deployment of the household food

rules suggested that doing best and providing healthy foods had
acquired a moral flavor. Mothers and fathers had the conviction
that it was their moral responsibility to ensure that their children
developed ‘correct’ and ‘healthy’ dietary habits. Eating sugar at the
permitted times was ‘good’, however, eating sugar snacks at any other
time was ‘bad’. The requirement for parents to instill ‘good’ dietary
choices appeared to be linked to morality and to perceptions of good
parenting:

Parents should know they shouldn’t give children sweets – it’s

bad for them. Like when you go to the movies and you see
them coming in with bags and bags of sweets and you know
what, the parents are wrong for doing it. (Mother 3)

The power inequity, which existed between parents and children,

within the hard policing style, suggested that parents held the power.
Any changes or shifts in power from parent to child resulted in parental
actions to readdress the power balance. In some situations, parents

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were unable to hold onto their power and saw their authority slip away
as children continually nagged for sweets and grandparents accused
mothers of depriving their children. With ever-greater numbers of
children in the family, the parents’ attempts of ‘keeping an eye’ on the
children’s activities became increasingly difficult. Mothers complained
of ‘a lack of energy’ and a ‘reduced resolve’ to keep their children ‘on
the straight and narrow’. These observations allowed two styles of
hard policing to emerge – consistent hard policing and inconsistent
hard policing.

Consistent hard policing

Consistent hard policing was characterised by parents who

consistently and resolutely enforced the household food regimes.
Parents appeared all powerful with the ability to reward for compliance
and punish their children for defiance:

After tea, as long as Jane’s made a good attempt at eating her

food then – only then can she have a biscuit or what ever she
wants. (Mother 10)

I sneaked the chocolate bars Mummy had for the visitors for
me and my friends. There was none left and when Mummy
found out she slapped me, so she did, she slapped me hard
and I didn’t get sweets or biscuits for ages. (Child 21)

Despite the parents’ belief that they relaxed the household food rules
and became more flexible as children approached adolescence, this
was not supported by the data. Many older children admitted to
openly flaunting their parents’ wishes and to practising a deception
upon their parents:

Sometimes I get carried away [laugh], like the odd time when
Mum works night duties - so when I come in from school,
she’s in bed. I just help myself to her chocolate biscuits and
she never knows. (Child 35)

On discovering their children’s disobedience and deceptions, the

parents’ rage was palpable:

I was so cross, so ashamed not to mention embarrassed. I

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took him to the doctor. He threw his blazer at me and all

these chocolate and sweet papers fell out of his pockets. He
knows he’s not allowed to eat sweets during the week, only
at weekends. Then I discover he’s eating them behind my
back. (Mother 2)

She’s just disgusting. She knows I don’t allow sweets during

the week and never in their bedrooms! Then what do I find
– under her bed - empty chocolate and sweet wrappers – and
it gets worse – a tin of drinking chocolate – half empty - with
a teaspoon in it. I could have swung for her. I was so cross
what with the mess not to mention that she had lied to her
father and me. (Mother 15)

The children’s resolve to circumvent and to break the rules suggested

that sugar had become immoral and had acquired the status of the
forbidden – something pleasurable to be done behind parents’ backs.

Physiological pleasures and sugar highs

Evidence from the physiological literature demonstrates that high

levels of sugar-induced opioids exist after eating sugars – in other
words, sugar can induce a euphoric state – a ‘sugar high’ (Grigson,
2002; Kelley et al., 2002). In this guise, sugar snacking could be
conceptualized in terms of illicit dependency, an obsessive desire for
a ‘sugar high’ and the children’s deceptive behaviour as a means of
satisfying their ‘junkie-sugar’ cravings.

In this climate of deception and enforcement, sugar became the

first battleground from which other more serious disagreements
developed:

My sister’s older boy and his sister wanted to come to

the garage with me and I was really pleased to have their
company. They bought sweets! I knew their mother would be
furious – the daughter swore me to secrecy – it was all quite
unpleasant. I thought this isn’t a battle worth waging and then
what did I hear that the older boy – he’s about 16 had been
out with his mates – he’d got drunk and was too frightened
to go home – the mother disapproves of alcohol too. The

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children just deceive her all the time – she hasn’t attempted to
give them any means of managing – it’s like living in a police
state she dictates and the children deceive her. (Mother 4)

Inconsistent hard policing

Under a continual verbal onslaught by children, mothers and fathers

often gave in and practiced an erratic or inconsistent form of hard
policing. Despite parents threatening either punishment or ‘never
to bring those damn biscuits into the house again’, when children
continued to ‘torture’, ‘moan and groan for long enough’, their mothers
gave in. Mothers stated that they wanted ‘an easy life’, ‘to keep things
calm’, ‘to keep them occupied’ and ‘just to pacify them’ as reasons for
capitulation to the children’s demands:

If I want money for the shop to get sweets I just keep going on
and on about getting money and my Mum gets real cross. First
she says, ‘No’. If I nag enough then she just grabs her purse,
hands me out the money and says, ‘Do what you want with it!’
– that’s ‘cause she’s in a bad mood cause I have nagged and
won’t leave until I get money for sweets. (Child 20)

Friends, fathers, grandparents and family visitors were lured into

the children’s schemes to obtain sugar snacks. All these individuals
were used as conspirators in a form of blackmail to break maternal
resolve:

I’ve bought ‘Sunny Delight’ so they could try it. It didn’t mean
to say they were going to like it - but when they nagged and
said their friends all had it and they’re the only ones who didn’t
- then I worried they felt different– I mean, like they were
losing out - so I bought it. Yeah, it was – what do they call it?
– Ah, yes a peer pressure thing. (Mother 22)

Similarly, parents recognised that visiting family provided children

with an opportunity to extort sugar snacks and family visitors were
greeted with delight. The reason being that children recognised that
snacks would not only be on offer but, with visitors present, requests
for snacks would not be refused:

Suppose I’d have to admit I’ve been guilty myself, ‘cause I

know my sisters don’t buy sweets [laugh] for their children

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either - so when it comes to visiting them I would usually bring

something, a ‘treat’ [laugh] you know those fun packs, those
bars, I mean I would treat them, I would do that but not for my
own children. (Mother 42)

As soon as I hear Auntie Jane in the house – I run to the

kitchen ‘cause I know she’ll have brought sweets for Mum and
her to eat. Even if she hasn’t Mum will get the biscuits out and
Mum says, ‘Just take one and get out’ -then I take one and
sneak two biscuits or even [laugh] more! (Child 14)

Hard policing: doing best for children?

Hard policing is a consequence of parents doing best for their

children. But are hard policing strategies best for children? Hard
policing styles initiate children into a family’s food regimes and re-
enforce the household rules regarding between meal sugar snacking.
The difficulty, however, for parents relying upon hard policing styles
is that, while younger children readily comply with parental rules, as
they become older and enter adolescence they reject parental values.
Parents are forced to adopt an inconsistent style of hard policing and
because of the dictatorial nature of earlier consistent hard policing
strategies children are left with no repertoire to control their sugar
cravings. Recent research, by Hill (2003) provides support for this
proposition. He questions the appropriateness of using restrictive
dietary practices with children and is of the opinion that parents who
rigidly and dictatorially control their children’s food consumption bring
up children who are unable to develop their own internal or ‘self-
regulatory dietary abilities’. Hill (2003) has called for the need to
re-consider parental influences upon children’s food choices, to help
parents develop appropriate dietary skills and to provide children with
the internal means of managing their dietary cravings.

Soft policing

Soft policing was characterised by what seems an apparent lack of

parent-power as parents yielded to their children’s demands and
wishes. The provision of sugary snacks, demanded by children,
ensured that children ate ‘at least something’, had the same foods as
their peers and parents had a ‘quiet life’. Parents, therefore, appeared
subservient to their children; however, this camouflaged the parental

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wish to do best for their children.

Central to soft policing and paramount in the parents’ strategies,

therefore, was the need to do best for their children. Balancing such
contextual constraints as family life and disposable income with the
child’s food cravings and social needs influenced the style of policing.
Consequently, lower socio-economic group families appeared less
restrictive when regulating their children’s between meal sugar
snacking. Rarely, but on occasion, parents would be inconsistent
and would not permit their children to eat snacks whenever they liked.
This suggested that two styles of soft policing existed – consistent soft
policing and inconsistent soft policing.

Consistent soft policing

Consistent soft policing was characterised by children snacking

between meals and choosing what, when and where to eat:

Well everybody’s different really; maybe other parents would

say that they give them sweets to pacify them or to keep them
happy. Well I’m inclined to buy her a packet of biscuits or
sweets because she likes them. I try my best for her and the
best thing is for her to have what she likes to eat’. (Mother
39)

If there’s a packet of chocolate biscuits sitting in our house

and I said, ‘Don’t eat them!’ they would eat them anyway. I
would always buy them sweets whenever I go to the shop,
I don’t think it does them any harm and they like them so
much. (Mother 56)

This apparent abnegation of control by parents was perceived as a

‘coping mechanism’ to ensure that parents had a ‘quiet life’ and that
their children ate at least something:

My Jim, just won’t eat meals, full stop. I set him down to
different meals and he picks at them, he won’t eat them at
all. He eats packets of crisps or sweets and he is skinny,
he is desperate I can’t get him to eat anything good. I will
give him something sweet because my attitude is as long as
he’s getting something. I have to make sure he is getting
something you know. (Mother 19)

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At first sight, it seemed that the children had considerable power over
their parents. This suggestion, however, ignored the fact that parents
recognized the power of sugar and used it to do the best for their
children. Sugary snacks were used as a protection from being bullied
or ridiculed at school. The inclusion of a chocolate bar, in a lunch-box,
for instance, ensured that children were the same as everyone else
and included in their peer group:

I mean you’re not going to send them to school with a lunch-

box that’s different from everybody else. (Mother 62)

I heard of a couple of cases of kids like who weren’t allowed to

have chocolate biscuits or anything like that well - they’re sort
of laughed at and teased by other children. (Mother 59)

Parents believed that their children needed calories and the source
of the calories was unimportant – ‘whatever foods – doesn’t matter
as long as its calories’ and ‘my attitude is it doesn’t matter what the
calories are as long as he’s eating something’. Wasted foods not only
resulted in lower calorific intakes but also money being effectively
lost from the household budget – money [food] literally being ‘thrown
to the dogs’. In these situations, parents feared that a reduction in
disposable income would result in their children having less than the
best. Therefore, when children demanded particular foods these were
provided irrespective of their costs or nutritional value. In the following
examples, mothers consistently provided foods that they knew their
children would eat and are illustrative of consistent soft policing:

My daughter will say, ‘Oh I would love Chinese [food]’, so then

they all want a Chinese [meal] and I say, ‘That’s a good idea’,
you know, maybe not thinking. Yes, its expensive but it’ll be
eaten when it’s bought – not be wasted like all the other food
that’s thrown out and that’s money down the drain.
(Mother 19)

When I get home from my shift say at half five or six o’clock
I’m exhausted. I get out the chip pan and put on the chips and
I think that’ll do them – it’s gets the children filled. (Mother
28)

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Inconsistent soft policing

Inconsistent soft policing was a rare occurrence. It was most notable

in fathers’ interactions with their children and was observed when
fathers feared their children were becoming obese. Fathers often
gave their children money for sweets:

My Daddy gives money to me - my Daddy’s awful soft - the

shops only across the road for sweets. (Child 55)

Daddy would give me money, so he would, to go up to the

shop to get sweets and then when I come back down Daddy
says, ‘Where’s my share?’. (Child 57)

The behaviour of fathers changed when they noticed their children

had gained weight. Fathers refused to provide money for sweets and
discouraged their children to eat biscuits:

My Daddy just says I’m not allowed them. He says, ‘You’re

getting too much weight on and you have to lose some of it’.
(Child 61)

Children complained of their fathers’ inconsistencies – sometimes

they were told they were ‘too fat and given sweets’ and at other times
they were ‘too fat for sweets’:

Last week my daddy called me fat, like I know I am and that’s

annoying but what I find really annoying is when I ask him for
money for something to eat he calls me fat. (Child 59)

Mothers also acted inconsistently when they noted their children were
heavier. The inconsistent nature of their dietary interventions was
such that it often resulted in the children eating more of everything:

My wee fellow would be a bit overweight. I have stopped

buying all that sweet stuff. It’s a banana – he gets if he’s
hungry. I say, ‘Have your banana’ but then he eats crisps,
then he has a drink, then a wheaten bread sandwich, then he
has to have something on top of them and he’ll still eat a big
dinner. (Mother 60)

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Soft policing: balancing constraints to do best

Soft policing was a balancing act that parents performed to do best for
their children. Parents juggled such contextual constraints as family
life, disposable income, children’s social needs and food wishes to do
best for them. Parents, nevertheless, recognised the power of sugar
and, within the guise of soft policing, used it to do the best for family
life. The need for a ‘quiet life’ was essential when mothers worked
night shifts. In other family situations, ‘sugar as pacifier’, was used
when parents wanted their children to be quiet:

Say with wee ones - now you know what if you were taking
them somewhere - now say if I was bringing my wee one here
today – well I’d have been inclined to buy her a packet of
biscuits or sweets to keep her occupied, to keep her quiet. So
you’d like mm you try your best to buy the best thing for the
children – sure the best thing – to keep them quiet. (Mother
19)

For the most part, but not entirely, parents who practiced soft policing
were living near or on the poverty line. For families balancing doing
best within the constraint of low-income there was an increased
tendency for lower quality diets (Blackburn, 1999). As the cheapest
source of calories came from foods with high fat and high sugar
content (Casey et al., 2001), children whose parents worried about
their children’s food intake or who had financial concerns, were more
likely to provide meals that were inadequate in fruit and vegetables
(Chinn et al., 2001) or to be characterised as ‘unhealthy’ (Sweeting
and West, 2005):

Mary will not eat so I say she might as well have sweets or
chips instead of a dinner with vegetables that will be thrown
out. (Mother 20)

The association between maternal employment, socio-economic

status and diet has been highlighted as central in children’s ‘unhealthy
snacking’ and ‘less health eating’ (Sweeting and West, 2005). Despite
the strength of evidence supporting Sweeting and West’s (2005)
conclusions, their analysis excludes the difficulties encountered by
low socio-economic group parents when they attempt to find solutions
to their families’ problems. The findings presented here, buttress and
extend the work of Sweeting and West (2005). By conceptualizing

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soft policing as a consequence of doing best, this work provides the

means to understand parental behaviours. Even in the face of potential
adversity, parents strive to provide the best lives for their children, not
only with regard to diet but also with respect to their children’s quality
of school and family life.

Discussion

The background to this study was a controlled trial to evaluate the

effectiveness of a school-based policy to regulate children’s between
meal snacking. Because of the nature of the experimental design,
it proved difficult to assess the effect of the policy on outside school
snacking. Consequently, a series of interviews was arranged and
conducted with participants to discover their views and opinions on
regulating their children’s sugar snacking. The aim of this study was
to use grounded theory techniques to analyze the qualitative data and
to generate an emerging theory on snack regulation.

An emerging grounded theory of snack regulation

The core category of ‘doing best’ was central to all parental activities
surrounding their children’s sugar snacking. Hence, a consequence
of parents ‘doing best’ was the policing of their children’s snacking
between meals. Two policing styles emerged – these were hard
and soft policing. In the home environment, parents had to balance
time availability, their energy levels, parental shift work, and family
life with the child’s food cravings and social needs. Balancing such
contextual constraints influenced the style of policing and, therefore,
some parents consistently or inconsistently practiced hard and/or soft
policing. Central to all policing was the parental wish to do best for
their children.

To generate a complete grounded theory, it would be necessary to

conduct theoretical sampling; however, due to time limitations and
ethical approval constraints, it was impossible to do this in the present
programme of research. To create a substantive theory, it would be
necessary to theoretically sample parents of children and adolescents
in different situations where parents are doing best. Some parents
in the current study provided glimpses and hints of how adolescence
restricted and shifted their policing styles when doing the best for their
adolescent sons and daughters. As children entered adolescence,

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parental policing styles gradually acquired a softer dimension with

shifts from consistently harder to inconsistently softer policing styles.
It may be postulated that parents with adolescent children would
increase their dragnet. Parents would not only police snacking but
also their children’s home-work, out of school activities, friends and
peers, sexual encounters as well as their consumption of alcohol,
tobacco and drugs. In an atmosphere of the adolescent revolt,
parents would be unable to maintain consistent hard policing styles
and parents, in an attempt to do best, would shift from hard to soft
policing with the tendency to adopt inconsistent policing styles.

Limitations

Difficulties abound in health promotion research and evaluation (Watt

et al 2001). The first difficulty is that the health promoter perceives a
health problem and imposes their solution upon a target population.
The second difficulty is that the health problem belongs to the health
promoter and not to the individuals. It is this mismatch in perception of
health need, which, we suggest is at the centre of difficulties in health
promotion. In contrast grounded theory supports the emergence of
problems that are identified by people (Glaser 1998). As individuals
start to interact they make sense of their own environment, their
specific difficulties and concerns. Doing so allows them to identify
what is going on in their lives and the social processes they use to
solve their concerns, difficulties and/or problems.

Therefore, at the outset of this programme of research there were

limitations. The researchers had not allowed the problem to emerge -
the health problem of childhood obesity and its solution (the regulation
of between meal snacking) had been imposed upon the parents by
the researchers. When the parents’ concern emerged as doing best
for their children, it allowed the researchers to understand the place
of between meal snacking in the family lives of the participants. What
was primary for parents was to do their best for their children and the
need to regulate (police) was secondary. Another limitation of the
study was the lack of theoretical sampling which restricted the aims
of the study with regard to theory generation. It would not be true to
state, however, that this study represents a qualitative exploration of
parental views rather it represents an emerging theory since the core
category ‘doing best’ emerged from the data.

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Conclusions: grounded theory in health promotion

Since the Ottawa Charter (WHO, 1986), health promotion has become
conscious of the need to work in partnership with communities to
strengthen community actions for health. Partnerships to strengthen
community action have been defined within the construct of community
capacity, being defined by Labonte and Laverack (2001) as the
“increase in community groups’ abilities to define, assess, analyze and
act on health (or any other) concerns of importance to its members”
(p.114). Community capacity is, therefore, not an inherent property of
a locality nor of the groups of individuals within it. Community capacity
is about the social interacting that binds people together (Laverack,
2004). With greater social interacting and increasing capacity, the
community becomes empowered to identify its own health problems
and solutions to them (Laverack 2004). To have effective partnership
working the health promoter must ‘tune in’ (Freire, 1970) and gain an
insight into the community’s concerns and worries. The importance
of grounded theory techniques for partnership working, community
capacity and health promotion, therefore, cannot be overstated.

Despite the limitations of this present study, the use of grounded

theory techniques to analyze the qualitative data provided the
researchers with an insight into the family lives of parents and
children. The awareness that parents wanted to do their best for their
children allowed the researchers to re-assess their current methods of
health promotion with children and parents and to adopt partnership
working with children and parents. The health promoter who uses
grounded theory techniques will gain an insight into people’s concerns
and the behaviours they use to solve those concerns. The adoption
of a grounded theory approach is essential if health promotion is to be
informed, assisted and empowered to strengthen community actions
for health.

Acknowledgements

This research project was funded by the NHS R&D Programme

Primary Dental Care; grant number RDO/90/07. The views and
opinions expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect those of
the DoH.UK.

We would like to thank Grace Bunting for her assistance with data

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collection and transcription of the data.

Authors

Ruth Freeman Ph.D.

Dental Public Health and Behavioural Sciences
Queen’s University Belfast

Richard Ekins Ph.D.

School of Media and Performing Arts, University of Ulster

Michele Oliver M.Med.Sc.

Community Dental Service, Armagh and Dungannon HSS Trust

Address for correspondence

Ruth Freeman
Dental Public Health and Behavioural Sciences
School of Medicine and Dentistry
Queen’s University Belfast,
RGH, Belfast BT12 6BP

Tel+44 (0) 28 9063 3827

Fax+44 (0) 28 9043 8861

Email: [email protected]

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The Grounded Theory Review (2005) vol. 4, no. 3

Managing Collaborative Synergy in the

Crane Industry
By Keith Ng Y. N. (Ng, K.) Ph.D.

Abstract

This study explores the key factors vital to Principal-Distributor

Collaboration (PDC) in the context of the crane industry in Singapore,
Malaysia and Indonesia. It explains the social processes that Principals
use to address differing interests throughout the course of the PDC.

Applying Glaser’s (1978, 1992, 1998, 2001) emergent approach to

grounded theory, 150 interviews were conducted with 50 participants
from these countries. The main professional concern of participants
throughout the course of the PDC was the need to achieve corporate
objectives, within a certain time frame, whilst also having to rely on the
cooperation of key managers from the partnering firm. Key decision
makers continuously resolve their professional concern through the
basic social process of Managing Collaborative Synergy (MCS). The
theory of MCS suggests that the way in which Principal firms manage
the PDC is by giving attention to the three interdependent dimensions
of Competitiveness Initiating, Confidence Building and Conformance
Setting.

Background and Motivation to the Research

This study took place during the Asian Financial crisis at a time
when the crane industry was undergoing change. Principal firms are
manufacturers of cranes or crane components. Distributors are those
who resell, construct and service cranes or crane components of
those principals that they represent. At the time when this study was
conducted, Principals were gaining in their appreciation of the rewards
associated with successful collaboration with Distributor firms in the
pursuit of their corporate objectives. Similarly, Distributors were more
alert to the benefits, in a limited market, of working in conjunction with
their foreign counterparts to share risks and meet increasing customer
demands. This environment of increasing cooperation between
Principal and Distributor firms provided the overall context for this
research study.

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It is a well-recognised fact that effective collaboration with Distributors

plays a prominent role in the business-to-business arena (McQuiston,
2001; Mudambi & Aggarwal, 2003), and so collaborating with
Distributors has been gaining popularity with Principal firms for
two main reasons. First, it allows the Principal firms to focus on
larger accounts (Ernst & Young, 1990; Emshweiler, 1991). Second,
Distributors with a home territorial advantage often have a better
knowledge of their local markets and are able to penetrate these
markets with ease and greater success than can Principal firms
(Douglas & Craig, 1989; Cavusgil & Zou, 1994). Given the prospects
of mutual benefits, working with Distributors provides the possibility
of reaching every segment of the business field. Therefore, an astute
Principal firm will choose to work closely with their Distributors in
order to stay competitive and ensure long-term corporate success
(Noordewier, John & Nevin, 1990).

Although there are no definitive data to account for the business

volume that Distributors are directly responsible for, industry estimates
in the United States indicate that there are 400,000 Distributors who
make up as much as 50% of the upper-channel sales in business-
to-business markets (Dishman, 1996). In the crane industry, 80% of
crane firms in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are Distributors who
represent Principal firms that manufacture hoisting equipment. Given
the large number of firms using Distributors, successfully managing
and improving working relationship with Distributors is of paramount
significance to any Principal firm (Merkel, 2001; Ng, 2002).

However, despite the large numbers of Principal firms employing

Distributors, little appears to be understood about how the Principals
have gone about developing and maintaining Principal-Distributor
relationships. While there are a number of models of building
relationships in the business-to-business arena (such as Anderson
& Narus, 1999, Zineldin, 2002), none are specifically designed and
directly focused on managing the collaboration between a Principal
and a Distributor. This lack of research into Principal-Distributor
relationships is also reflected in the crane industry, the specific focus
of this study. This study attempts to fill this gap in understanding
Principal-Distributor relationships by using the crane industry as a
case study. In addition, this study also seeks to explain how Principals
draw out the synergistic nature of the relationship by resolving the
issues arising in the relationship. The relationships between Principals
and Distributors that form the focus of this research are labelled
Principal-Distributor Collaborations (PDCs).

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Batt and Purchase (2004) contend that a firm’s ability to develop

and successfully manage its relationship with other firms is a key
competence and source of sustainable competitive advantage.
Managing relationship with Distributors has long been recognized
as a critical component in channel marketing (Ross, 1985; Weber,
2000). However, there is recognition that making collaboration work
is a significant challenge (Boddy, Macbeth & Wagner, 2000; Cropper,
1996; Spekman, Forbes, Isabella & Macavoy, 1998). This leads
Weber (2001, p. 95) to suggest that both Principals and Distributors
may benefit from a closer study of how collaboration between them
“are developed, managed and maintained over time.”

Because of its potential to impact on the long term profitability and

survivability of both Principals and Distributors, the management of
PDCs should be a major concern to both parties. In an increasingly
competitive environment, unsatisfactory progress rates for a PDC
will put considerable resources at risk especially in the form of
financial resources. Conversely, firms that collaborate successfully
realise corporate objectives by improving both top line revenues and
bottom line profits (Weber, 2001). Thus increasing the efficiency and
effectiveness of the management of PDCs has the potential to expand
and maintain significant competitive advantage for both parties.

At a professional level, my interest in the management of PDCs

resulted from my work as the managing director of KI, a manufacturer
of electrification systems for the crane industry. I was involved in the
training of Distributors in the areas of sales and marketing, product
knowledge, installation techniques and after sales maintenance
programs as a part of the induction of new Distributors. In the course
of working for sixteen years in this particular field, it became obvious
to me that the management of PDCs was underdeveloped and under
researched. Collaboration between Principals and Distributors was
not symmetrical, particularly in relation to the role of initiating and
driving the relationship. It was in the perspective of the Principal that
this research was undertaken.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study was to develop a substantive theory of how

key decision makers of Principal firms in the crane industry address

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the managerial concerns they were challenged with throughout the

course of the PDC. The following questions guided this study:

1. What are the main concerns that confront key decision makers
contributing to the satisfactory outcome of a PDC?

2. What can these key decision makers do in order to resolve

these concerns to ensure that long-term mutual benefits can be
achieved throughout the course of a PDC?

In this study, key decision makers were individuals who shoulder

the responsibility and were directly involved with the developing
and maintaining of the PDCs. These included business owners and
employees that have the most constant contact with Distributors
and have the greatest influence on the ongoing management of the
Principal-Distributor relationships.

The Method

Given the lack of research in the area of PDCs and the exploratory
nature of the research questions, it was decided to use a qualitative
approach in the present study. More specifically, grounded theory
(Dick, 2002; Glaser, 1978, 1992, 1998, 2001; Glaser & Strauss,
1967) was chosen as the main research methodology. Grounded
theory is a systematic, inductive approach to developing theory to
help understand complex social processes. The main motivation that
encouraged this choice is the ability of grounded theory to handle the
emergence of problems identified by participants in a study (Glaser,
1998).

Another factor that motivated the selection of grounded theory as

the research methodology was that the theory discovered would
be representative of the substantive area of inquiry of this study. A
fundamental strength of grounded theory is letting the data determine
who next to talk to or where to go for further information. This process
is referred to as “theoretical sampling” (Glaser & Strauss, 1967, p.45).
Theoretical sampling in a grounded theory study is determined by
the need to collect as much data as necessary in order to investigate
categories and theoretical connections. Participants were added to
the study as guided by data analysis until the point of saturation was
reached (Glaser, 1978). In this study, 150 interviews were conducted

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involving 50 business owners and senior managers of Principal and

Distributor firms in the crane industry across Singapore, Malaysia
and Indonesia. Data were collected over several phases from major
stakeholders of PDCs that had at least 10 years of working experience
in the crane industry. Confidentiality for each participant was ensured
and written consents obtained. The data were coded as an ongoing
process and subsequently written up.

Throughout this study, the constant comparative method was used

for data analysis. The basic intent is the identification of a core
category as a key part of the process. Glaser (1978, p. 93) asserts
that “the generation of theory occurs around a core category” and
represents the main theme of the substantive area of inquiry. So the
core category captures the main concern of participants in a study and
accounts for most variation in a pattern of behaviour. It explains, “what
is going on in the data” (Glaser, 1978, p. 94) and becomes the basis
for the emerging substantive theory. In this study, the core category
was identified through an iterative process of coding, memoing,
theoretical sampling and theoretical sorting. Towards the completion
of data analysis, a comprehensive review of the literature on PDC
was undertaken in order to place the developed substantive theory
within the context of what was already known in existing collaborative
theories on the topic.

The Main Professional Concern

Analysis of the data revealed the following factors formed the main
professional concern of Principals in the crane industry; i.e., how
to collaborate with Distributor firms to achieve corporate objectives
within a specific time frame. These factors emerged after an in-depth
examination of the data collected in the study, as described by the
grounded theory method.

The first factor was the environment within which the key decision
makers try to achieve corporate objectives. For the PDC to work, the
collaborators had to pursue common interests such as increasing
market share, achieving customer satisfaction, filling competency
gaps and reducing overall costs. The reason firms entered into
collaboration was to enable them to leverage each other’s strengths.
Key decision makers were unable to make independent decisions
or work in isolation from each other in a PDC, as they might within

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their own firms. Decision-making in a PDC would inevitably involve

both parties acting together. Not only did key decision makers need
to collaborate with each other, they had to do so in the best interests
of all parties. A PDC working environment is collaborative, a ‘it takes
two hands to clap’ scenario. In other words, achieving corporate
objectives in a PDC environment requires collaboration with other
partners through social processes that exclude conventional forms of
managerial power or control.

The second factor that influenced key decision makers was the
pressure of meeting corporate deadlines. The success rate of
achieving set objectives within the specified time would give rise to
better financial gains, an enhancement of corporate reputation and
an overall improvement in business performance. Failure to achieve
set time lines would incur the use of additional resources and an
unnecessary extension of working hours. Therefore a ‘time is of the
essence’ mindset is vital for key decision makers. It allows managers
to recognize and seize opportunities and to recognize when things
are getting off the rails and to take the initiative to fix them. Working
effectively in today’s competitive environment requires managers to
keep pace with the ever-changing market.

Another factor that must not be overlooked was the key decision
makers’ own career prospects. This third factor focused on the key
decision makers’ personal interests. For key decision makers who
were employees, their success in making a PDC work could result
in career benefits ranging from higher bonuses and promotions, to
securing their position within the organisation. For business owners,
the successful management of a PDC would provide the benefits of
long-term corporate success and inherent financial rewards. Failure
to meet set objectives would have adverse implications such as
termination in the case of employees and the possibility of bankruptcy
for business owners.

Therefore, the need to fulfil corporate objectives was a strong

motivating factor in framing the main concern for key decision
makers in a PDC and is often used as a signpost when appraising
managerial competence. Decisions made in the best interest of the
PDC itself rather than just in the interest of the partnering firms or
the key decision makers. This approach led to ‘win-win’ solutions for
long-term market gains. How to maximize the synergistic nature of
the collaboration, through the processes of cooperation, became the

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factor that motivated and explained the behaviours of key decision

makers in Principal and Distributor firms.

In this study, synergy is a term that is commonly used and understood

in the Singapore organizational context. Synergy means the ability
of both the Principal and Distributor to create greater competitive
advantage by working together than they could by working apart. This
includes the ability to generate value for each other greater than that
which is generated by each of its rivals.

Managing Collaborative Synergy: A Way of Resolving

the Main Professional Concern

Managing Collaborative Synergy (MCS) was the label selected to

describe the process whereby the Principal constantly addressed
their main concern in the Principal-Distributor relationship. It was a
process in which the Principal firm employed and adapted a range
of collaborative management strategies capable of initiating and
maintaining the synergistic benefits of a PDC in the crane industry.

During the MCS process, constant interactions between key decision

makers from Principal and Distributor firms allowed the establishment
of criteria on which the PDC could be based. These criteria enabled
both firms to achieve a greater understanding of each other’s needs
and expectations. Thus, once these criteria were established, more
cooperation and less opportunistic behaviours could be expected from
key decision makers. In an environment of cooperation, key decision
makers often acted together in an effort to improve the synergistic
nature of a PDC and so achieve satisfactory outcomes for all in the
relationship. Issues that might cause disputes with each other were
often resolved by informal means rather than by one side exploiting
the situation. That was a major feature of MCS.

MCS is a form of management that fits the contextual needs of a

PDC in the crane industry. The theory of MCS enables the Principal
firm to facilitate translation of PDC goals into reality. In addition, MCS
possesses the necessary conceptual power to provide an explanation
of the managerial practices and processes adopted by the Principal
firms in this study.

In the process of MCS, three conceptual phases emerged as the

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main professional concerns of study participants and accounted for

the variations in patterns of behaviour of these individuals in the
PDC. In grounded theory parlance, these three phases were sub-core
categories of the process:

1. Competitiveness Initiating
2. Confidence Building
3. Conformance Setting

Competitiveness Initiating

Competitiveness Initiating refers to a sequence of two linked stages

– grappling with the market and positioning within the market – as the
Principal firm assesses and explores the environment within which
their potential Distributors operate. This helps the Principal to position
its internal capabilities to deliver products and services that fulfil
these requirements. In addition, the Principal firms actively identify
suitable potential Distributors to work with. Often Principals identify
Distributors based on what the Distributors can potentially achieve,
given the availability of essential resources supplied by the Principal.
Conceptually, this is the phase whereby the Principal identifies gaps
in market and capitalises on its ability to deliver goods and services.
Deliver them at the time at prices as good as, or better than other
suppliers and in the form sought by buyers. All of this while earning
at least opportunity cost on the resources employed. This phase
provides the Principal with an understanding of the commitment of
resources required to obtain a competitive edge over rival firms.

Grappling with the Market

This encompasses the Principal’s exploration of market needs of

potential Distributors. The Principal searched for marketing information
pertaining to the environment, specific product requirements and
potential Distributors for collaboration. A category of grappling with
the market is the need of achieving competitive edge. This varies
according to the needs of Distributors and may include the need to
have access to expertise and compatibility. Another category is that
of third party influencing. In addition to exploring ways to achieve
a competitive edge, Principals must also understand the existing
relationships in which their potential Distributors were engaged in.

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These third parties influencing could influence positively or negatively,

the decision to search for a partner and hence the formation of a PDC
relationship.

Positioning within the Market

This is the process of converting a Distributor’s need to achieve

competitive edge, into an opportunity that was attractive to the
potential Distributor. In other words, positioning within the market is
the consequence of the Principal’s grappling efforts to fulfil market
needs. Activities during this stage are directed towards positioning
the Principal firm so that it is in a favourable stance in later phases.
When effective, this process is likely to result in heightened interest of
potential Distributors towards the Principal firm.

A category of positioning within the market is complying essentials.

In the search to fulfil market requirements, the Principal may take
initiatives to offer goods and services to match market needs. Most
often the missing resources required by the potential Distributor,
determined the area in which the Principal must deliver. This may
take the form of meeting recognised standards, matching quality
expectations and improving designs. The process of identifying a
complying essential in the positioning stage might sometimes lead
a Principal to appreciate a PDC from the perspective of the potential
Distributor.

Another category of positioning within the market is the process of

tolling. This serves as incentives for a potential Distributor in offering
Principal’s products and services in the marketplace. The level of
competition within the market often influences key decision makers to
adopt proactive pricing to maintain competitiveness. Financial gains
in working with the Principal are the implicit condition that justified the
relationship. Therefore, the Principal is required to implement pricing
based on current market trends and needs. It would be unusual not to
express how much value the collaboration could offer each partnering
firm in due course.

Support is the last category of positioning within the market. This is

the label applied to the process that the Principal adopts to assist
Distributors in meeting the objectives of collaboration. In other words,
what other things could the Principal do to enable Distributors to

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achieve the desired results from the relationship. Distributor firms

are mainly interested with the type of Principal’s support that they
receive ranging from simple responses on enquiries, availabilities of
stocks, completeness of product range, available marketing budget to
demands for higher discount structures.

Confidence Building

Confidence Building refers to a sequence of two linked stages

– addressing differences and ensuring deliverables. Often the main
challenge for Principals in this phase of a PDC is to increase the
pursuit of mutually compatible interests in the collaboration while
decreasing opportunistic behaviours. Social processes associated
with Confidence Building are employed to attract potential Distributors
so that Principals may access the cooperative nature of the partner
firm for mutual benefits. In addition, this phase is also characterised by
social processes directed at appraising the latent cooperation within
a potential Distributor and between individual key decision makers.
Formal and informal appraisals conducted during this phase often
suggest the rate at which a PDC might progress in the later phases of
the collaboration.

Addressing Differences

Addressing Differences is often a stage marked by intense negotiation,

which leads to the recognition and establishment of common grounds
in the PDC. Activities are directed at increasing the interest of potential
Distributors in forming a PDC. The Principal, having in the first phase
understood and positioned itself in meeting market requirements,
often attracts interest by first converting their need for a partner into
some form of opportunity that is attractive in the market to the potential
Distributor. In a way this is putting the ‘carrot’ before a potential
Distributor in an effort to increase their level of interest in forming a
PDC.

A category of Addressing Differences is that of appraising capability.

Managerial interests at this point are aimed at assessing the levels
of value that the potential partnering firm possesses. Formal and
informal appraisals of capabilities might be undertaken to establish
the level of benefits associated with collaborating with a specific

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firm in comparison with the potential risks. Formal appraisals are

referred to as activities that occur at firm-specific level in evaluating
the benefits of working together with a potential partnering firm. This
is characterised by factual, rational and objective requirements of the
firm. Informal appraisals are usually more prominent at the level of key
decision makers. These are substantially less structured and involve
the subjective interpretation of those aspects of risk and benefits that
are believed to be vital to the individual. Intuition rather than fact often
dictates the basis of informal appraisals.

Another category of addressing differences is that of engaging

exclusivity. This is the process where the Principal assigns the right of
marketing its products and services in specific territories to a potential
Distributor. The term ‘exclusivity’ means the rights are given by the
Principal solely to the one Distributor. As exclusivity could be viewed
as the highest selling right awarded to a Distributor, the negotiation
of this factor is often a crucial period for the success or failure of the
PDC. It might be the first catalyst in the PDC to a discussion about
a firm’s willingness to commit to a long-term relationship with the
other potential party. While not working on exclusive terms might be
perceived as non-committal from the Principal, the wrong selection
would impede the main objectives of the collaboration. The Principal
might lose opportunities if the Distributor did not give its exclusive
commitment in its marketing efforts. Conversely, Distributor firms look
for assurances in the relationship with the Principal firm. In marketing
the Principal’s products, Distributors want to be assured that it is worth
their effort to incur marketing expenses and even be able to reap the
benefits of their labour for long-term survivability.

Following the processes of both appraising capability and engaging

exclusivity that of reducing risk follows. Reducing risk is the category
used to describe a time where firms tread carefully prior to the
commitment of significant resources to the PDC. Not all issues can be
fully addressed at this point of time, so both Principal and Distributor
adopt a reducing risk attitude toward the relationship. In other words,
there seems to be general agreement to work with each other in a
PDC given the likelihood that benefits exceed risks and so, to increase
that likelihood, they focus their attention on the reduction of risk. The
process of reducing risk is often characterised by getting a market
response. For example, a Distributor might request a product trial and
obtain customer feedback prior to the commitment of stock orders or
entering any collaborative arrangements. In addition, there is often
an increase in discussions between the potential partner about ways

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of improving the level of collaboration. During this stage, the focus

of discussion shifts from internal to external factors impinging on the
potential viability of the PDC. This is often marked with discussions
on commercial terms of sale such as payment terms and flexibility of
payment.

The stage of addressing differences is a transitional period whereby

Distributors’ interests are addressed by the Principal firm. Activities
are usually directed to addressing these issues and success acts as
a catalyst in the formation and formalization of a PDC. This might
take the form of legally binding contracts or a ‘handshake’ agreement
based on the promises given by both parties, as discussed earlier.
The satisfactory completion of this stage leads to one whereby the
Principal firm is in a position to ensure it can deliver on its promises.

Ensuring Deliverables

During the first stage of addressing differences, managerial attention

is centred on addressing the question of ‘how can we work together’.
This stage in PDC usually concludes with a general agreement by
key decision makers within each firm that both partners gain from the
synergies of working together. This becomes the impetus to move
both partners to increase their level of commitment in the PDC. It
is frequently a period in which partnering firms agree that they must
deliver on the promises made in earlier stages of the PDC. The process
of passing these resources to the partnering firm indicates the point
when the commitment to delivering its promises are consummated.

The commitment of real and tangible resources into the PDC often
provides the context of managerial action in this stage. As such, the
Principal may attempt to ensure, often simultaneously, delivery on a
combination of issues common to many PDCs.

Increasing confirmation was the category applied to the process that

involves the Principal firm keeping the promises given as part of its
commitment during the earlier stage of addressing differences. It is
often a crucial period for the success or failure of the PDC. It might
be the first point in the PDC when the reliability of the Principal firm
to deliver on its promises is tested. Often, it is a point whereby the
Distributor has already made commitments to go ahead with stocking
the Principal’s products for re-distribution in the agreed territories.

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Failure to deliver on its promises might either dissolve permanently,

or stall, the PDC while the other firm re-examines their alternatives in
view of the actions of the defaulting partner.

Improving status is a category used to describe the consequences

of a firm’s increasing confirmation efforts. Once key managers have
progressed through the increasing confirmation process and trust
and mutual respect are built up, the relationship will move towards a
synergistic position that captures the strength of the two firms working
together. An important property in the process of improving status is
the continued growth in personal relationships between key managers
of the organisations represented. This is characterised by a sense of
familiarity developing through working with recognisable counterparts
in the PDC. Managers experienced in PDCs often appreciate the
essential need to gain the involvement of their counterpart as early as
possible in order to ensure the success of the PDC. Usually, by this
time, experienced managers have established some form of direct
contact with key decision makers of the Distributor firm.

Often, in working with Distributors, it is common for Principals to find

that not all of the agreed points of collaboration are fully covered in the
earlier stages of the relationship. Nor does the Principal anticipate all
of the approaches that might be needed in resolving every managerial
issue. In addition, PDCs in the crane industry often involve many
stakeholders within each partnering firm and the initial agreement
made might not fully address all issues. Some managers prefer to
label the unmet issues as ‘gaps’ and the processes used to resolve
these issues as ‘approaches’.

Closing the gaps often means key managers will constantly look for
alternative means to resolving issues arising between the parties.
Knowing that not all points were covered in the earlier stages of the
discussion, key managers are prepared to make alternative decisions
for the resolution of issues arising. Conversely, inexperienced
managers in PDCs are often astonished to find these gaps were not
addressed earlier and might go through a phase of dissatisfaction and
even anger at what they perceive as failures in the earlier discussions.
This phase of dissatisfaction might jeopardise relationships with key
managers of the partnering firm and even with other managers in their
own firm. As a result, firms experienced in the process of PDC often
strive to limit any form of interruption in the relationship by having the
same key managers participate in all phases of the development of
the PDC.

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Another property of improvising status is that of filling in. Although key

decision makers could adopt formal or informal approaches to the
resolution of managerial issues in this stage of a PDC, they are likely
to employ one or the other extreme in filling in the ‘gaps’. This reflects
the level of personal relationships, mutual trust and confidence that
these partnering firm have in each other. When relationships are
characterised by suspicion, key decision makers prefer to manage
issues arising by using formal approaches such as ‘going by the
book’. However, the relationship between Principal and Distributor is
often characterised by increasing levels of trust and mutual respect
and key decision makers will accordingly adopt a ‘logical approach’ to
‘fill in’ the gaps.

Informal means of resolving issues often involves key decision makers

searching for ‘win-win’ solutions. This choice is dependent on the time
required for the issue to be resolved. Taking a ‘logical’ approach to the
resolution of issues prevents the process from stalling to an extent
that jeopardizes the viability of the PDC. In short, what drives key
managers to adopt informal processes to fill in ‘gaps’ is the intention to
avoid impeding the advancement of the PDC at all costs.

Conformance Setting

Conformance Setting is the last phase of the basic social process of

MCS. It can be conceptualised as the extent to which the Principal
devises and implements strategies and actions that guide the PDC to
follow the rules of the collaboration. In attempting to ensure that the
PDC continues to progress at a satisfactory rate, the Principal adopts
a range of strategies to guide decision-making with the objective of
improving the overall synergistic nature of the collaboration. This is
seen as the phase whereby the Principal has delivered on its earlier
promises, and where it expects the Distributor firm to fulfil its part of the
bargain. These strategies provide and act as a guide for the Principal
firm in resolving a variety of managerial issues so that the objectives
of the collaboration can be met. Three broad types of strategies for
Conformance Setting emerged from the study: Distributor-based,
Operational-based and Principal-based strategies.

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Distributor-based Strategies

Distributor-based strategies focus directly on the Distributor by

constantly monitoring the status of the Distributor. This involves
continuous interactions between collaborating firms to make sure that
the Distributor is competent in its role. These strategies attempt to
enhance the Distributor’s knowledge by improving its abilities, skills
and attitudes in relation to the Principal’s products and services.
These include training, acquisition and participation. Developing the
capability of Distributors, and helping them to grow, is an effective
strategy that the Principals adopt to achieve high performance by
Distributor firms.

Operational-based Strategies

Operational-based strategies are Principal strategies that focus on

aspects that strive to improve the performance PDC. The overall
category of operational-based strategies consists of two separate
sub-strategies – communicating and preparedness. Communicating
are Principal strategies intended to increase the effectiveness of the
communication occurring between Principal and Distributor firms.
Preparedness are Principal strategies directed at planning for issues
that might arise or actions that might be required as a result of working
with the Distributors. They determine how the desired outcomes could
be efficiently and effectively achieved.

In the crane industry, Principals monitor the operational issues

that might arise as a result of working with Distributors. This would
enable the Principal to determine if there are issues that contribute
to Distributor’s behaviour, positively or negatively. These influences
on Distributors, if deemed to be conducive, will prompt a Principal to
preserve these characteristics. Conversely, when influences effecting
Distributors are perceived as being detrimental, the Principal might
attempt to cease or minimize such effects. Both these outcomes
are likely to affect the Distributor’s behaviour positively. Failing to
do so would frustrate Distributors leading to disillusionment in the
relationship.

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Principal-based Strategies

Principal-based strategies were those that are aimed at optimising the

PDC by improving those Principal’s behaviours that affect or influence
the behaviours of their Distributors. In the crane industry, the Principal’s
ability to improve their behaviour depends on two major factors. The
first is their understanding of the level of influence that their behaviours
had on their Distributors. The second is their receptiveness to make
changes in their own behaviours. When their influence has positive
or negative outcomes in Distributor’s behaviours, attempts must be
made to either strengthen or modify their own behaviour accordingly.
This results in both outcomes positively reinforcing the Distributor’s
role in the PDC.

The overall category of Principal-based strategies consists of two

separate sub-strategies – comprehending and self-improvement
strategies. Comprehending is the label given to those strategies
focused at increasing the Principal’s understanding of how their
own behaviours influence Distributor’s behaviour. Self-improvement
is the label given to those strategies aimed at the Principal’s self-
improvement in order to be attractive to their Distributors and thus in
turn influence their behaviours.

Discussion

In Glaser’s grounded theory method, the emergent theory leads itself

to the extant literature that should be examined in the final stage of the
research process (Guthie, 2000). According to Glaser (1998, 2001),
this approach enables a more appropriate and relevant comparison of
the emergent theory with the literature. The benchmark for inclusion in
the comparison with the extant literature is perceived relevance.

The theory of MCS explains how the Principal firm manages the
Principal-Distributor relationship to achieve corporate objectives
within a specific time frame. The literature search revealed that there
was no theory totally similar to the theory of MCS. However, several
theories that reflect the theoretical focus of PDC can be found in the
Inter-Firm Relationship (IFR) literature with what Peng and Kellogy
(2003) describe as “voluntary cooperative agreements between at
least two organisations which involve exchange and sharing.” (pp.
292-293).

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I will present the model proposed by Zineldin (2002) for “managing

one-on-one relationships” (p. 549). No particular reason led to the
choice of this model apart from its relevance to this study. This
model is based on the analogy of a romantic relationship; Zineldin
(2002) proposes business relationships as commencing from a
period of “discovery”, followed by “development” and moving towards
“commitment” and “loyalty” (p. 552). Change is imminent as the IFR
‘evolves’ through a generic sequence of life-cycle phases. Each phase
logically implies a high level of cooperative effort as well as differences
in information, expectations, experiences, needs, wishes, values,
strategy requirements and consequences. As such, each phase has
the potential to create or impede the growth of the relationship.

A closer examination of the theory of MCS and Zineldin’s relationship

life-cycle model reveals several striking similarities. The first of these
is that firms move closer over time as the relationship evolves thus
depicting increasing levels of mutual commitment. This is evident
in the confidence building phase where the Principal firm ensures
deliverables on promises made in earlier stages of the relationship.
Another similarity is the recognition of the inherent problems of
working together in a relationship and as such the possibility of failure
in each phase of the IFR development. Aspects of the theory of MCS
provide some conceptual support for this. To achieve the purpose of
PDC means that Principals and Distributors have to perform their
roles in the relationship effectively, failure to do so would possibility
impede and even terminate the relationship. The third similarity is the
acknowledgement of the need to use strategies in the relationship to
acquire or retain partners. This is supported in the conformance setting
phase whereby strategies such as Distributor-based, Operational-
based and Principal-based are used by the Principal firm to guide
decision making to ensure the PDC continues to progress at an
acceptable rate. However, while there is congruency and conceptual
support to the Zineldin (2002) model, a major point of significance of
the theory of MCS is the contribution it makes by providing insights
into the social processes of deploying strategies that may encourage
greater commitment and trust. In the theory of MCS, strategies were
used to guide the Principal firm in resolving a variety of managerial
issues so that the objectives of working together can be achieved.

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Achievements of the Study

The first question early in the study was to examine key factors
that confront key decision makers in order to obtain satisfactory
outcome of a PDC. The findings of this study provide an insight into
our understanding of the major concerns that key decision makers
face when managing PDCs. These results indicate that Principal
firms are expected to give due attention to three main categories of
Competitiveness Initiating, Confidence Building and Conformance
Setting to obtain a favourable result in their endeavours with their
potential Distributors. From the academic perspective, given the
limited studies in identifying managerial concerns and how these key
decision makers went about addressing their concerns, such a study
benefits by filling the gap in the extant literature (Nevin, 1995; Weitz
& Jap, 1995).

The second question was what key decision makers can do to resolve
various concerns that arise throughout the course of the PDC to
achieve long-term mutual benefits. Often in addressing differing
interests in the course of the PDCs, key decision makers not only
pursue their own corporate objectives, they draw out the synergistic
nature to sustain long-term mutual benefits. The crux of the theory
of MCS is the way in which the Principal firms manage the PDC by
employing and adapting a range of managerial strategies capable of
initiating and maintaining the synergistic nature of the relationship.
Key decision makers working at the interface between Principal and
Distributor firms often establish criteria on which the PDC could be
based. How these individuals approach and manage these criteria
is the key to achieving satisfactory outcomes in the relationship.
Managers experienced with PDCs often resolve confronting issues
by considering the interest of both parties rather than by exploiting
the situation. This approach enables the Principal firm to facilitate the
translation of PDC goals into reality, providing consistency in managing
the Principal-Distributor relationship and fulfilling expectations of both
parties to the relationship. The theory of MCS provides details about
the social dynamics between key decision makers in the resolution of
each of the managerial issues identified above.

From the perspective of practitioners, it is expected that the study will

contribute to their understanding of Principal-Distributor relationships.
In addition, it will provide conceptual explanations for the patterns of
behaviour of key decision makers in the crane industry. Understanding

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these patterns of behaviour will allow practitioners to be suitably

prepared when collaborating with potential partners. This study will
enable practitioners to recognise the limitations in the roles that both
partners play. Relevant actions could then be taken to address these
shortcomings early on in the relationship, as this study will provide a
platform to evaluate the overall health and status of the collaboration.
An exploratory study like this will begin to provide practitioners with
the means to improve the overall quality, effectiveness and efficiency
of their management of PDCs in general. These improvements will
lead to PDCs contributing to increased corporate performance and
adding to shareholders’ value.

Conclusion

Faced with the ever-increasing number of Principal firms using

Distributors as their sales arm, developing viable working relationships
with Distributors is of considerable importance and is now viewed as
a high profile area in the crane and other related industries. The
results of this grounded theory study indicate that the way in which
the Principal manages this relationship is by giving attention to three
sub-core categories of competitiveness initiating, confidence building
and conformance setting. These findings serve as a foundation for
developing and understanding all the different facets on which the
relationship is based. By collating the data of this study, Principal firms
can build more effective and enduring relationships with those that
resell their products.

Author:

Keith Ng Y. N. (Ng, K.) Ph.D.

Graduate College of Management,
Southern Cross University
Australia

Phone: +65 6271 5937

Fax: +65 6728 0739
Email: [email protected].

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The Grounded Theory Bookshelf

Dr. Alvita Nathaniel, DSN, APRN, BC, West Virginia University

The Bookshelf provides critical reviews and perspectives on books on

theory and methodology of interest to grounded theory. In this issue,
Dr. Alvita Nathaniel offers a review of Barney Glaser’s new book.

The Grounded Theory Perspective III: Theoretical

Coding, Barney G. Glaser (Sociology Press, 2005). Soft
Cover, 160 pages. $ 32.00.

Not intended for a beginner, this book further defines, describes, and
explicates the classic grounded theory (GT) method. Perspective III
lays out various facets of theoretical coding as Glaser meticulously
distinguishes classic GT from other subsequent methods. Developed
many years after Glaser’s classic GT, these methods, particularly as
described by Strauss and Corbin, adopt the grounded theory name
and engender ongoing confusion about the very premises of grounded
theory. Glaser distinguishes between classic GT and the adscititious
methods in his writings, referring to remodeled grounded theory and
its offshoots as Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) models.

The GT/QDA debate is reminiscent of the schism that developed

between the philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce and his benefactor,
William James at the beginning of the last century. Peirce was a brilliant
philosopher and scientist. America’s most prolific philosopher, Peirce
originated the doctrine of pragmatism. Because Peirce’s writings
were a very high level of abstraction and difficult to understand,
James attempted to make them accessible to the popular academic
community through his own, more concrete writings. However, James
never got it quite right. Unhappy with James, failing to clarify his ideas
about pragmatism, and desiring to distinguish his original ideas from
those proffered by the more popular James, Peirce eventually changed
the name of his own theory to pragmaticism. Unfortunately, the new
name never caught on and the theory of pragmatism continues to be
popularly attributed to William James.

Like Peirce and his theory of pragmatism, Glaser remains faithful to the
original premises of classic GT. He continues the battle to distinguish
classic GT from QDA, viewing QDA as a rigid method with a low level
of abstraction and tendency toward preconception. He outlines in
Perspective III many ways that QDA violates the foundational ideas

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of GT.

In particular, Glaser emphasizes that an understanding of “what is

going on” in an area of concern requires openness on the part of the
analyst/researcher to the natural emergence of the theoretical code.
The theoretical code emerges late in the GT process as the analyst
painstakingly hand sorts conceptual memos. This process requires
several elements such as the analyst’s proper use of conceptual
memos, openness to emergence, perspicacity, and patience. The
process is hindered or derailed entirely if the theoretical code is forced
through the use of a preconceived theoretical framework, a conditional
matrix, discipline specific codes, or “pet” codes.

Glaser effectively clarifies his points through critique of various

writers and grounded theorists. He sorts through point by point the
writings of grounded theory “experts” from a number of disciplines and
comments on their level of understanding of the classic GT method.
This discussion will be particularly helpful to Ph.D. students who
are trying to learn both the fundamentals and the finer points of the
classic grounded theory method. It will also be helpful as background
for the Ph.D. student to use in discussions with dissertation/thesis
examiners.

Many quotes from what Glaser deems to be good examples of GT are

also helpful for clarification purposes. Glaser comments on elements
of theories developed within a number of disciplines around the world.
The words of the original writers offers helpful examples to illustrate
the complex concepts underlying good classic grounded theory.
In addition, Glaser offers a few new theoretical codes, which have
emerged in grounded theory studies in the last few years.

Perspective III ends with a chapter on the impact of symbolic

interaction on grounded theory. This chapter will be welcomed by
grounded theory scholars. As anyone who reads grounded theory
studies knows, most grounded theory papers include a reference to
symbolic interactionism in the discussion of method. In most cases,
the analyst never again mentions symbolic interactionism. Glaser
views the symbolic interactionism claim to grounded theory as a
quest for an ontology and epistemology to justify GT—a quest that is
unnecessary. Classic grounded theory, is a “general inductive method,
possessed by no discipline, or theoretical perspective, or data type”
(p. 145). Glaser voices regret that grounded theory has been taken
over by symbolic interactionism, which serves to further remodel

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the method. He welcomes symbolic interactionism as one data type

among many—all of which are suitable for GT analysis.

In conclusion, The Grounded Theory Perspective III: Theoretical

Coding is a welcome addition to Barney Glaser’s collection of writings
about classic grounded theory. As an adjunct to his previous books,
especially Theoretical Sensitivity and Doing Grounded Theory, this
book will help both novice and experienced grounded theorists.
It serves to clarify areas of confusion about theoretical coding,
distinguish classic GT from remodeled GT methods, and answer
the symbolic interactionist question. It is a must-have addition to the
classic grounded theorist’s library.

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