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Introduction
The research question(s) and aim(s) of a study influences which research methodology to choose. The authors’ study, which is the focus of this paper, endeavoured to answer a question about the social processes of how people living with diabetes in Indonesia learn about their disease. Therefore, the most appropriate methodology to answer this type of question is grounded theory (Charmaz, 2014). Grounded theory is a popular qualitative research methodology that helps researchers to understand social processes. A theory is then constructed from the collected data, to help explain the process (Charmaz, 2014). Other qualitative methodologies were considered and excluded, such as ethnography and phenomenology, as the authors’ primary focus was to explore and understand the social processes (Corbin and Strauss, 2008), as opposed to people’s lived experiences or cultural influences.
Theoretical sampling is an essential feature in a grounded theory study, but there is little practical direction on how to implement this method effectively (Ennis et al., 2015; Neill, 2012; Slatyer et al., 2015). Mccrae and Purssell (2016) found that the use of theoretical sampling is not consistent in grounded theory research and the process of how to implement theoretical sampling is often invisible in research publications. The authors advocate that it should be used, however warn that novice researchers can be misled if the process has not adequately been implemented or explained by the researchers. Inappropriately using theoretical sampling may lead researchers to collect “unnecessary and conceptually thin data” (Charmaz, 2014). When researchers claim to use grounded theory as the methodology, describing the use of core tenets and procedures of grounded theory is required (Suddaby, 2006). This paper is a methodological paper that provides an in-depth description of the application of theoretical sampling, as a method for collecting data, using the authors’ grounded theory study as an exemplar. Although the study was conducted in Indonesia, the paper would be of benefit to all international researchers using or wishing to use theoretical sampling.
What is theoretical sampling and why is it important?
Identifying what data to collect can be a challenge for researchers undertaking grounded theory studies. Corbin and Strauss (2008) emphasise that additional data to be collected are based on the analysis of previous data. As data are analysed, questions arise...