Reviewing Commonalities between Agile Software Development Methodology and Grounded Theory Methodology

Agile development method has attracted widespread corporate and academic attention as the limitations of traditional software development method become apparent. Similarly focusing on inductive knowledge creation, grounded theory method has achieved seminal status in social science. But there is no attempt so far to identify synergies between these two popular methodologies of diverse fields, so that social science researchers can benefit by using principles and practices of agile methodology. This paper identifies the similarities between these two methods in terms of the underlying philosophy as well as important practices. Focusing on these similarities, multiple recommendations regarding enriching grounded theory method with components of agile methodologies were made. The paper serves as an initial work on an important emerging methodology debate, which need to be further explored, enhanced and detailed