The theory analysis process involves analysing the concepts that are derived from your data. This is an iterative process that requires flexibility since it’s impossible to anticipate theory analysis in data evaluation how much data you’ll need to gather ahead of time. Grounded theory (GT) researchers constantly analyse and collect data until they reach theoretical saturation, or the point at which new data is no longer contributing to their theory’s development.
The first step in GT is to identify themes that are repeated through a thorough examination of the data, then coding these emergent themes, and categorizing them through relationship identification. This is the basis for GT analysis. It is called open-coding. After open coding, scientists make connections between concepts or create substantive codes, through memoing and constant comparison. This helps to create an integrated theory by placing fragmented concepts back together to form hypotheses that work. The concepts are then weaved into these hypotheses through an axial coding process.
When a researcher has identified or tentatively identified a primary or fundamental variable, they choose to sample new data in order to keep the variable in mind, or conduct the theoretical sampling. This process limits the scope of research and focuses solely on the aspects that are relevant to the study.
A theory is useful not just in the field of research, but also as a tool to make sense of your data, and to compare and contrast various aspects. This is an essential aspect of GT analysis and is the reason it should be part of your methodology section, alongside your coding methods and the development of conceptual categories.