Exploring the use of entity‐relationship diagramming as a technique to support grounded theory inquiry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare fundamental concepts from the grounded theory approach to social science research and concepts from entity‐relationship diagramming, a technique used to model data from the field of systems analysis, and propose that entity‐relationship diagramming can be a useful tool for grounded theory researchers. Design/methodology/approach – The paper compares and contrasts concepts from the two different fields, demonstrating the construction of an entity‐relationship diagram from data from an existing grounded theory research project, and the correspondence between the data model constructs and the grounded theory constructs. Findings – A strong correspondence was found between these two sets of concepts and suggests that the entity‐relationship diagramming technique may be a useful addition to the social scientist's toolkit when carrying out research using the grounded theory approach. Originality/value – The paper bridges two distinct fields – information systems and grounded theory – and proposes a novel way for qualitative researchers to analyse and depict data.