Qualitative Research with Socio-Technical Grounded Theory

Rashina has developed Socio-Technical Grounded Theory, a modern socio-technical version of the traditional, sociological Grounded Theory method, designed especially for Software Engineering (SE) and other socio-technical (ST) domains, based on over 15 years of experience of conducting, supervising, reviewing, and editing GT studies.

What’s Different?

• STGT customises the full GT method for ST domains such as SE, HCI, AI, information systems, human robot interactions, digital health, blockchain, and other emerging technology domains.
• STGT is based on an underlying socio-technical research framework which specifies the ST domain, ST phenomenon, ST researchers, and ST data, tools, and techniques. Traditional GT methods, on the other hand, apply a Social Science research framework which typically considers technical aspects with a black box approach.
• Traditional GT methods are designed to be applied in full for theory development. They do not support partial application for qualitative data analysis. STGT introduces two possible applications: (a) STGT for Qualitative Data Analysis to be used for analysing qualitative data in combination with other methods, e.g., within case studies, ethnography, or mixed methods research; and (b) Full STGT for theory development which includes the basic and advanced stages.
• While open coding is common to all GT methods, STGT applies an ST approach to open coding and explains how to code for ST phenomenon.
• Traditional GT methods support a specific research paradigm, e.g., Glasserian GT is mostly consider post-positivist, Strauss-Corbinian GT is best aligned with interpretivist, and Charmaz’s Constructivist GT applies an exclusive Constructivist approach. STGT, on the other hand, can be applied with any one of these paradigms through careful and consistent application.
• Other differences can be found in the upcoming Springer Book and the TSE 2021 paper introducing STGT for SE.

The Book – Qualitative Research with Socio-Technical Grounded Theory

Hoda’s book “Qualitative Research with Socio-Technical Grounded Theory” published with Springer is now available on Amazon for pre-order. It will be releasing in 2024.

Watch this space for updates on the book. In the meanwhile, to know more about STGT, please consider the resources below, including the STGT Guide (the TSE paper), links to exemplar papers applying STGT, and summary slides and videos of STGT technical briefings and talks.

Read the STGT Guide (TSE 2021 Paper)

The “Socio-Technical Grounded Theory for Software Engineering” paper.
Hoda, R. (2021). Socio-Technical Grounded Theory for Software Engineering, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, volume 48, issue 10, pp. 3808 – 3832 (early access from Aug 2021, published 2022) [PDF] DOI: 10.1109/TSE.2021.3106280

Read Exemplars Applying STGT

Full STGT Study resulting in Theory

• Graetsch, U. M., Khalajzadeh, H., Shahin, M., Hoda, R., & Grundy, J. (2023). Dealing with Data Challenges when Delivering Data-Intensive Software Solutions. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering [Arxiv Link]

STGT Basic Stage Study presenting Emerging Findings

• Gama, K., & Lacerda, A. (2023, September). Understanding and Supporting Neurodiverse Software Developers in Agile Teams. In Proceedings of the XXXVII Brazilian Symposium on Software Engineering (pp. 497-502).

STGT for Data Analysis (STGT4DA) applied by Mixed Methods Studies

• Gunatilake, H., Grundy, J., Hoda, R., & Mueller, I. (2024). Enablers and Barriers of Empathy in Software Developer and User Interactions: A Mixed Methods Case Study. ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology. [PDF]
• Madampe, K., Hoda, R., and Grundy, J. (2023) “The Emotional Roller Coaster of Responding to Requirements Changes in Software Engineering,” in IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol. 49, no. 3, pp. 1171-1187, doi: 10.1109/TSE.2022.3172925 [PDF]
• Madampe, K., Hoda, R., & Grundy, J. (2023). A Framework for Emotion-oriented Requirements Change Handling in Agile Software Engineering. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering [PDF]
• Hidellaarachchi, D., Grundy, J., Hoda, R., and Mueller, I. (2023). Understanding the Influence of Motivation on Requirements Engineering-related Activities. Submitted to the ACM Transactions Software Engineering Methodology, 34 pages [Arxiv Link]

Read the Slides from the Technical Briefing (ICSE 2024 Lisbon)

Read the Slides from the Technical Briefing (ICSE 2023 Melbourne)

A Technical Briefing (~1 hour 30 mins) was presented at ICSE 2023, Melbourne [Summary Slides] [Technical Briefing]
Cite as: Hoda, R. (2023). Technical Briefing on Socio-Technical Grounded Theory for Qualitative Data Analysis. In 2023 IEEE/ACM 45th International Conference on Software Engineering: Companion Proceedings (ICSE-Companion). IEEE. [PDF]

Watch the Journal First Talk (ICSE 2022)

A Journal First talk recording presented at the IEEE/ACM International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE2022 (online).

Watch & Read the Technical Briefing (ICSE 2021)

A Technical Briefing (~1 hour 25 mins) was presented at ICSE 2021 (online) [Technical Briefing]
Cite as: R. Hoda, “Decoding Grounded Theory for Software Engineering,” 2021 IEEE/ACM 43rd International Conference on Software Engineering: Companion Proceedings (ICSE-Companion), Madrid, ES, 2021, pp. 326-327, doi: 10.1109/ICSE-Companion 52605.2021.00139. [PDF]

Watch the invited STGT talk at PUC-Rio (2021)

“Socio-Technical Grounded Theory for Software Engineering” – An invited talk at the PUC-Rio, Brazil (presented virtually), December, 2021