Doing grounded theory: Experiences from a study on designing undergraduate nursing curricula in Australia

This chapter discusses processes used in undertaking a grounded theory study on designing undergraduate nursing curricula in the context of national accreditation requirements. The authors report on the experiences of undertaking this research and in so doing, address important issues such as philosophically positioning the researcher in a grounded theory study; planning the research process; ensuring quality processes in research; analysing data; and integrating and presenting the theory. Although grounded theory may demand the systematic application of methods, each research process is unique and sharing such experiences offers potential solutions to researchers approaching a substantive area of inquiry who intend to use it as a methodology. The chapter is presented from the perspective of the lead investigator (NR) and describes his experiences in undertaking this study for his doctoral research.