IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/infsem/v18y2020i1d10.1007_s10257-020-00464-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Extended grounded theory: a methodology to combine multiple disciplines

Author

Listed:
  • Mojtaba Khaghani Milani

    (University of Tehran)

  • Mahmoud Reza Hashemi

    (University of Tehran)

Abstract

Grounded theory (GT), a widespread qualitative research methodology, has been introduced to generate a theory from data that is gathered from one discipline. However, in many studies, we are required to involve multiple disciplines and generate a theory that explains a multidisciplinary phenomenon and incorporate combined concepts. The combined concept is either a generalized concept from one of the disciplines or a new abstract concept that can satisfy the properties of multiple disciplines. The GT coding phases are not able to extract these combined concepts. In this paper, an extended GT has been proposed. The proposed method can operate over multiple disciplines and extract their corresponding combined concepts. The proposed extended grounded theory (EGT) uses ontology matching and merging methods to merge the extracted concepts and proposes two new coding phases; namely “Description” and “Combination” phases. These phases overcome the challenge of describing combined concepts, the large number of concept dependencies, and the propagation of the description changes from one concept to other concepts. As a use case, the proposed methodology has been implemented over two disciplines of “Web Security” and “Computation over Encrypted Data” and resulted in the unified theory of “Developing Secure Web Applications over Encrypted Data.” This unified theory includes combined concepts such as Web Access Control over encrypted data and Operation of middle-boxes over encrypted data. In addition, EGT has been able to discover new combined concepts that were undefined previously in each of the two disciplines (e.g. XSS prevention with searchable encryption). As a second case study, EGT has been implemented over two disciplines of “Healthcare” and “Data Science” to generate a unified theory that explains the multidisciplinary phenomenon of “Privacy Preservation of Cloud based Health Data”. In addition to a unified theory, EGT generates a conceptual framework of the combined and new concepts that can be used for requirement elicitation and analysis. Furthermore, the researcher can use the concepts’ relationships to suggest a set of best-fit solutions to the elicited requirements.

Suggested Citation

  • Mojtaba Khaghani Milani & Mahmoud Reza Hashemi, 2020. "Extended grounded theory: a methodology to combine multiple disciplines," Information Systems and e-Business Management, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 89-120, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:infsem:v:18:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s10257-020-00464-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s10257-020-00464-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10257-020-00464-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10257-020-00464-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wanda J. Orlikowski & Jack J. Baroudi, 1991. "Studying Information Technology in Organizations: Research Approaches and Assumptions," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 1-28, March.
    2. Orlikowski, Wanda J. (Wanda Janina), 1993. "CASE tools as organizational change : investigating incremental and radical changes in systems development," Working papers WP 3579-93., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    3. Efrat Eizenberg & Yosef Jabareen, 2017. "Social Sustainability: A New Conceptual Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-16, January.
    4. Merry-Jo D. Levers, 2013. "Philosophical Paradigms, Grounded Theory, and Perspectives on Emergence," SAGE Open, , vol. 3(4), pages 21582440135, December.
    5. Yi Peng & Gang Kou & Yong Shi & Zhengxin Chen, 2008. "A Descriptive Framework For The Field Of Data Mining And Knowledge Discovery," International Journal of Information Technology & Decision Making (IJITDM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 7(04), pages 639-682.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Efpraxia D. Zamani & Nancy Pouloudi & George Giaglis & Jonathan Wareham, 2021. "Accommodating Practices During Episodes of Disillusionment with Mobile IT," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 453-475, April.
    2. Yi Peng, 2015. "Regional earthquake vulnerability assessment using a combination of MCDM methods," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 234(1), pages 95-110, November.
    3. Elbanna, Amany & Newman, Mike, 2022. "The bright side and the dark side of top management support in Digital Transformaion –A hermeneutical reading," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    4. Lehmann, Hans & Gallupe, Brent, 2005. "Information systems for multinational enterprises--some factors at work in their design and implementation," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 163-186, June.
    5. Mensah Marfo & Abiel Ashitey ARMAH & Eleazer Fianko Ofei & Isaac Sewornu Coffie & Linda Adadevoh & Sanjeet Kumar Pattnaik & Carl Asante Reindoph & Edward Annan, 2024. "Competitive advantage and sustainability in Ghanaian microfinance institutions: the mediating role of strategic capabilities," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-18, December.
    6. Jolita Vveinhardt & Vilija Bite Fominiene & Regina Andriukaitiene, 2019. "“Omerta” in Organized Sport: Bullying and Harassment as Determinants of Threats of Social Sustainability at the Individual Level," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-31, April.
    7. Akram Hatami & Jan Hermes & Anne Keränen & Pauliina Ulkuniemi, 2023. "Creating Social Sustainability Through Distributing Leadership and Co-Responsibility in Corporate Volunteering," South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases, , vol. 12(1), pages 81-96, April.
    8. Aaltonen, Aleksi Ville & Alaimo, Cristina & Kallinikos, Jannis, 2021. "The making of data commodities: data analytics as an embedded process," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 110296, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Agnieszka Wojewódzka-Wiewiórska & Anna Kłoczko-Gajewska & Piotr Sulewski, 2019. "Between the Social and Economic Dimensions of Sustainability in Rural Areas—In Search of Farmers’ Quality of Life," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-26, December.
    10. Huilian Han & Hui Li, 2020. "Coupling Coordination Evaluation between Population and Land Urbanization in Ha-Chang Urban Agglomeration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-23, January.
    11. Jubril Olakitan Atanda & Ayşe Öztürk, 2020. "Social criteria of sustainable development in relation to green building assessment tools," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 61-87, January.
    12. Maciej Piekarski & Łukasz Bajda & Ewelina Gotkowska, 2021. "Transformation of Socialist Realistic Residential Architecture into a Contemporary Sustainable Housing Habitat—General Approach and the Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-29, December.
    13. Wanda J. Orlikowski & C. Suzanne Iacono, 2001. "Research Commentary: Desperately Seeking the “IT” in IT Research—A Call to Theorizing the IT Artifact," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 12(2), pages 121-134, June.
    14. Lea Primožič & Andreja Kutnar, 2022. "Sustainability Communication in Global Consumer Brands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-16, October.
    15. Vincent Mangematin, 2011. "How do Academics adopt new practices during a reform ? The Evolution of doctoral education in France 1992-2009," Working Papers hal-00658038, HAL.
    16. Tasneem Alsaati & Samir El-Nakla & Darin El-Nakla, 2020. "Level of Sustainability Awareness among University Students in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-15, April.
    17. Marie-José Avenier & Catherine Thomas, 2015. "Finding one's way around various methodological guidelines for doing rigorous case studies: A comparison of four epistemological frameworks [Se frayer un chemin parmi les différentes recommandation," Post-Print halshs-01491454, HAL.
    18. Chen, Wenshin & Bennett, David, 2013. "Gaining social values of wireless technology: An interpretive case study in the healthcare institutional context," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 802-809.
    19. Carlos A. Osorio & Dov Dori & Joseph Sussman, 2011. "COIM: An object‐process based method for analyzing architectures of complex, interconnected, large‐scale socio‐technical systems," Systems Engineering, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(4), pages 364-382, December.
    20. Pietro Previtali & Eugenio Salvati, 2021. "Area Social Plans and Local Governance of Interorganizational Collaborations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-16, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:infsem:v:18:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s10257-020-00464-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.