Grounded Theory With Online Multimodal Data: The Case Study of Online Collaborative Mind Maps

• In Event: 34.040 - Reenvisioning the Potentials of Qualitative Research Approaches

Abstract

Grounded theory is a valued method for building a theoretical understanding of social processes and can be used with different types of data, including digital and multimodal artifacts. Despite the increasing need of analyzing digital multimodal data in educational research, it is rarely done through grounded theory due to a perception that some of its principles cannot be followed with data collected online, and that include modes other than discourse. This paper demonstrates the use of online multimodal data in a study investigating student knowledge construction during online collaborative mind-mapping. Potential challenges and advantages of using constructivist grounded theory methods to analyze these data are discussed, providing valuable reflections and literature for researchers interested in grounded theory and/or online multimodal data.

Author

• Rosa Cendros Araujo, University of Western Ontario