“Eventually everything connects: people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se.”

 

—Charles Eames

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Overview
How do we identify patterns in conversations with interviewees? How do we construct emerging meanings from these patterns? Constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2024) offers a rigorous and iterative approach for deriving concepts from qualitative data such as interviews. Applying this methodology enables designers and researchers to discover new frames of reference for interpreting complex ideas and emerging phenomena. 
 

One practical way to implement grounded theory is through ATLAS.ti—a qualitative analysis software that supports the identification, coding, and annotation of unstructured data (Lee et al., 2023; Friese, 2019). The platform also provides visualization tools that help code interview transcripts and reveal relationships through features like Sankey diagrams. Building on Vink and Koskela-Huotari’s (2021) notion of social infrastructure as a material for service design, students “tangibilize” insights through coding and clustering by using grounded theory, viewing services as dynamic social systems shaped by shared meanings. This exercise strengthens analytical reasoning and fosters the development of transparent, evidence-based design processes.

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*Note: Week 8 coincides with the university’s Spring Break; therefore, its content will be integrated into week 9.
 

Reflections

• How does constructivist grounded theory allow design ethnographers to move from descriptive field data to conceptual and universal models that inform design strategies and solutions?

• What did your coding process reveal about the complexity of service encounters and their invisible infrastructures?

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References

• Charmaz, K. (2024). Constructing Grounded Theory (3rd ed.). SAGE

• Friese, S. (2019). Qualitative Data Analysis with ATLAS.ti (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications.

• Lee, S.-H., Coughlin, J. F., Yang, M., de Weck, O. L., Lee, C., Klopfer, E., & Ochsendorf, J. (2023). Co-create Financial Planning Services for an Aging Population: Designers' perspectives. Proceedings of the Design Society, 3, 947–956. https://doi.org/10.1017/pds.2023.95

• Vink, J., & Koskela-Huotari, K. (2021). Social Structures as Service Design Materials. International Journal of Design, 15(3), 29-43.