Chapter 11 Grounding theory in intergenerational citizen participation: a grounded theory approach in the context of public housing research

Abstract

Housing researchers often seek to investigate the needs of the populations they study so that they may evaluate the policies targeted at ‘fixing’ the problems faced by the residents of public housing communities. Traditionally, researchers base these recommendations on the statistical exploration of primary and secondary quantitative data. However, some researchers contend that these traditional research tools fail to capture the meaning and significance of housing for its inhabitants and offer little insight into larger related issues of politics and economy (Jacobs, 2003). From the perspective of this group of researchers, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to craft a survey instrument or any other measurement tool, for that matter, which could capture the divergent human experience of families living in public housing across the nation given the diversity of factors that shape the lives of residents.

Citation

Jourdan, D. (2008), "Chapter 11 Grounding theory in intergenerational citizen participation: a grounded theory approach in the context of public housing research", Maginn, P.J., Thompson, S. and Tonts, M. (Ed.) Qualitative Housing Analysis: An International Perspective (Studies in Qualitative Methodology, Vol. 10), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 249-268. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1042-3192(08)10011-8