Bridging Language Barriers in Data Analysis for Constructivist Grounded Theory Research: a Case Study in Chinese Context

Introduction: Qualitative studies across diverse linguistic and cultural contexts are on the rise in global social settings, however, literature addressing the potential challenges and issues of conducting such research using Constructivist Grounded Theory (CGT) remains limited. This gap may impede CGT's broader adoption and application in non-English linguistic and cultural contexts. This paper, therefore, highlights potential challenges in the data analysis phase of cross-cultural research using CGT and suggests strategies for overcoming them.

Goals and Methods: This paper explores sociocultural interpretation challenges encountered during the data analysis phase of a CGT study conducted in a Chinese context. It details strategies employed to address these challenges and identifies the optimal stages for language conversion to minimize data loss while avoiding superficial analysis. These insights are based on the researcher's experiences interviewing 25 Mandarin-speaking participants in China. Additionally, the paper offers reflections on the researcher's positionality in cross-cultural and multilingual qualitative research.

Results: If the interview language is the researcher's native language, keeping the transcript in the original language and performing initial coding in the interview language will minimize data loss of implicit cultural meaning and achieve better conceptualization results. For bilingual researchers, a more optimal strategy is to deploy a bilingual model during the data analysis stage, balancing analytical depth with linguistic accuracy. Researchers should fully leverage their perspectives as cultural insiders, emphasizing interpreting data through a culturally informed lens.

Conclusions: The paper presents a practical, actionable strategy for cross-language data analysis in Constructivist Grounded Theory, tailored to align with Chinese cultural and research practices. It will contribute to CGT methodology to some extent and serve as a valuable reference for cross-language research.