Constructing Grounded Theory by Charmaz

I bought this book during lunch today at NIE bookshop. This book is the first of a few more book on grounded theory that will be my close companions as I continue my journey pursuing a doctoral degree.

Why Charmaz's book is important? Charmaz criticises Glazer's and Strauss' classic grounded theory for not committing to any epistemological assumption. The classic grounded theory expects researchers to be free from taking any philosophical approach and theoretical perspective when beginning their inquiry, to the point that literature review should be conducted only after data has been collected and an independent analysis has been developed by the researcher. Charmaz proposes a social constructivist approach to grounded theory to show that researcher can make a commitment to a theoretical perspective and an epistemological assumption. According to Charmaz, her contructivist approach to grounded theory "takes implicit meanings, experiential views, and grounded theory analyses as constructions of reality" and it complements well with symbolic interactionism (which is the theoretical perspective I take for my study) because "both perspectives emphasize the study of how action and meaning are constructed" (Charmaz, 2003, p. 314).

Anyway, on a seprate note, I didn't have much time to blog these days because most of my free time was spent on reading, writing and rewriting. Well, I have no complaint because I enjoy doing just that. How I wish I can lock myself up in my room every weekend and just write. Hmm...my wife and kids wouldn't like that. Ahh...the struggle to strike a balance.