Home > G Words > grounded theory

grounded theory

Definition of Grounded Theory

(noun) A theory developed from close observations of a social phenomenon.

Grounded Theory Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: ground·ed the·o·ry

Audio Pronunciation

– American English
– British English

Phonetic Spelling

  • American English – /grOUn-duhd thEE-uhr-ree/
  • British English – /grOUn-did thIUH-ree/

International Phonetic Alphabet

  • American English – /ˈgraʊndɪd ˈθiəri/
  • British English – /ˈgraʊndɪd ˈθɪəri/

Usage Notes

Additional Information

Related Terms


Works Consulted

Ferris, Kerry, and Jill Stein. 2010. The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology. 2nd ed. New York: Norton.

O’Leary, Zina. 2007. The Social Science Jargon Buster: The Key Terms You Need to Know. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).

Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).

Cite the Definition of Grounded Theory

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “grounded theory.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved March 29, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/grounded-theory/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

grounded theory. (2014). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/grounded-theory/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2014. “grounded theory.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed March 29, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/grounded-theory/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“grounded theory.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/grounded-theory/>.