Relational coding: Enhancing the transparency and trustworthiness of grounded theory research

Abstract

Grounded theory practitioners are undoubtedly familiar with critiques of their research which problematise its lack of transparency and, subsequently, trustworthiness. While the literature on grounded theory already benefits from numerous varying guides on ‘how to do grounded theory’, comparatively less instruction exists around how to do it clearly and convincingly. One of the elements of the grounded theory methodology (GT) which appears to be impacted most by confusion around transparent writeup is coding, naturally leading to the theoretical outputs thereof suffering from questionable trustworthiness. Through the course of my own postgraduate research, I developed a tool which not only makes coding more transparent to the reader, but to the researcher themselves. This tool, Relational Coding, highlights the relationships between codes which form the foundation of theory, and reveals them more obviously to the reader and researcher alike. Rather than ‘a how to guide to GT’, this is a ‘how to show you have actually done GT’ tool. This allows for stronger arguments to be built from the theory which this methodology builds due to the trustworthiness inspired by enhanced transparency. Here I demonstrate its usefulness and applicability, as well as key shortcomings which may be addressed by fellow grounded theory enthusiasts as the tool is inherently organic and modifiable.