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Writing My Grounded Theory

                    At this point I have already collected, transcribed, and coded, and categorized all of the data from Twitter. Now I needed to critique my processes and make sure I haven’t missed anything or think about if I could have done something in a different way. I did wonder if there were alternative methods or platforms for gathering data that would have been better. Of course, interviewing or surveying people and asking if and why they use social media to access news instead of traditional methods would have likely given me the most direct answer. However, the logistics of the ethics approval process would have been cumbersome, so the data from Twitter will have to suffice. Data from other social media platforms might have been helpful as well however, the search tool within Twitter turned out to be a very useful tool. Of course, I tried searching other social media platforms but because tweets are mainly narrative, ...
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My Grounded Theory Data Collection and Analysis

           During this stage of the course, we review chapter 9, where Charmaz (2014) explains theories in more detail. Charmaz (2014) explained how theories are really just developed in order to answer questions (p. 227). This basic logic helped me think about what questions I was really asking in terms of my research on why people use social media to access news and information. I really want to know why people choose to use social media to access news and information. I have some initial theories that it is because of convenience, efficient, cost-effective, and basically instant access to any news topics. Some people even get alerts for news updates on their smartphones. What I needed to do was figure out what data I could collect that would help support this theory or answer my question. Using Stebbins’ (2001) framework and methods, I did some exploration, starting with Twitter. I skimmed other social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, but i...
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Thinking About my Grounded Theory Project

                    Grounded theory was not something I was familiar with prior to signing up for this course. Writing a research paper using grounded theory methods sounded even more intimidating. However, when I read the course description I was intrigued. I work as a data analyst and typically deal with actual numbers and not qualitative data. It seemed like such a foreign idea to do research with qualitative data using standardized, strategic methods that the uncomfortableness with it actually made it more intriguing. I think it is important that we learn more about things we are intimidated by or unfamiliar with. I feel like the more we put ourselves in uncomfortable situations, the more comfortable we become with being uncomfortable.                 Once I got into the readings the concept of grounded theory became clearer. One of the things that...
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