GROUNDED THEORY 2
Grounded Theory
Brimhall and Engblom-Deglmann (2011) employed a grounded theory approach to
conduct a qualitative study about the remarriage of post-bereaved spouses. The study focused on
understanding resilience and integrating changes in the face of adversity to explore and develop.a
working theory addressing the intricacies of reinitiating marriage. Interestingly, Brimhall and
Engblom-Deglmann (2011) addressed emotional, psychological, and social factors that influence
the journey of the rejoining of spouses after major life transitions. The authors' explicit statement
that most prior literature addressed remarriage after divorce suggested the need for their
investigation. Also, the article provided implications for family and marriage professionals to
assist couples with resolving the complexities of remarriage.
Individuals included in the study were married once previously, at least one partner
experienced the death of a spouse, and have been married six years or less. The authors
conducted semi-structured interviews with twenty-four heterosexual Caucasians adults. Among
them, one couple with 18 years of marriage experience was used to identify commonalities
among couples who have been married for a long time. An email distributed to staff members of
a large Midwest university contributed to more than half of the recruitment (n= 16), while a
colleague connected to a different Midwest state recommended the additional four couples.
Multiple interviews were conducted and then the researchers employed the Strauss-Corbin model
to investigate participants’ experiences to discover new patterns (Brimhall & Engblom-
Deglmann, 2011). The researchers demonstrated memoing by reading the transcripts and
highlighting appealing phrases in the preliminary analysis. Based on the participants’ preferences
the researchers returned the individual and couple interviews, asked for feedback to be
incorporate in their analysis, urged the participants to clarify any discrepancies, and elicited
information that might have come to their attention since the interview. The researchers
GROUNDED THEORY 3
demonstrated open coding in which a list of topics was produced by line-by-line analysis based
on the participants' comments. Subsequently, the common themes were identified by completing
an analysis both within and across participants. Subcategories and dimensions were defined after
the categories were established and the emerging theory was integrated and refined using
selective coding.
Only eight of the couples were included in the findings because the researchers lost
contact with the other six couples. The study revealed that memories of the past relationship was
the central category because all participants included it in their feedback, it was connected the
literature, and it explained variation among participants (Brimhall & Engblom-Deglmann, 2011).
Additional categories included past spouse on a pedestal, comparing/past comparison of spouse
and relationship, insecurity felt by current spouse, curiosity about past spouse/relationship,
partner’s response to curiosity, and impact on current relationship. Although existing literature
was a staple in this research, these authors carefully articulated that previous literature
inadequately captured the dynamics of couple relationships when addressing prior experiences.
According to Brimhall and Engblom-Deglmann (2011) the current theory can be improved by
exploring cultural differences in remarriage, implementing a a larger-scale quantitative analysis
to explore the link between a partner’s response to inquires about past relationship and current
satisfaction, and interpreting the results of the long-married couple with caution.
The following information depicts how this study uses the grounded theory approach:
Significant constructs of the Strauss and Corbin model include categories,
codes, coding, and structured procedures followed up with consistent comparison
of data from the field with new categories (Creswell & Poth, 2018).
GROUNDED THEORY 4
Multiple interviews are conducted to saturate the categories or find added
information until added information is non-existent (Creswell & Poth, 2018).
The authors sought to systematically develop a theory that explained the
process, actions, and interactions of post bereaved remarried couples (Creswell &
Poth, 2018).
It is evident that the researchers developed a conditional matrix model to make
a connection between the substantive theory and provided implications for
clinicians working in the field.
Grounded theory is suitable for research when a theory is not existent or to
comprehend a process (Creswell & Poth, 2018).
GROUNDED THEORY 5
References
Creswell, J. W. & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among
five approaches (4th ed.). CA: Sage Publications.
Brimhall, A. S. & Engblom-Deglmann, M. L. (2011). Starting Over: A tentative theory exploring
the effects of past relationships on post bereavement remarried couples. Family Process,
50, 46-62. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1545-5300.2010.01345.x
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