“Connecting Better and Wider”: A Constructivist Grounded Theory and Situational Analysis Exploration of Community Resilience in the Anthropocene

INTRODUCTION: For decades qualitative researchers have used grounded theory approaches in their research projects, resulting in a vast literature of grounded theory methodologies. Less well documented in this literature are qualitative studies which incorporate complementary grounded theory approaches into their designs. GOALS and METHODS: This presentation provides a methodological account of how constructivist grounded theory and grounded theory situational analysis approaches were used in a Ph.D. study exploring how ecologically concerned networks understand community resilience and respond to current and anticipated challenges of the Anthropocene, the idea that humans are now the primary influencers of global environmental changes. Specifically, it details how the researcher conducted a constructivist grounded theory analysis of nine intensive interviews with Europeans active in the UK-headquartered Transition Network, an ecologically minded global movement of self-organizing groups working to forge caring, resilient communities that are low carbon and socially just; and a grounded theory situational analysis of the network’s written discourse based on twenty-two English-language texts produced by prominent Transitioners, such as founders, headquarters staff, or national hub teams. RESULTS: The use of two data sets and complementary grounded theory methodologies facilitated both a deep and wide look into the Transition Network’s ideas, attitudes and practices, yielding two explanatory concepts with potential to contribute to a theoretical understanding of community resilience, including potential resilient practices. CONCLUSION: Incorporating complementary grounded theory approaches and data sets suggests a design strategy to enhance both the depth and breadth of qualitative research projects. And in this case, this design strategy produced a more comprehensive account of how one network understood community resilience and responded to the current and anticipated challenges of the Anthropocene.