ANGELES UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION 1

A GROUNDED THEORY STUDY: EXPELLING PREGNANT STUDENTS OUT

OF WEDLOCK

A thesis proposal presented to the Department of Psychology

College of Arts and Sciences

Angeles University Foundation

Angeles City

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of

Bachelor of Science in Psychology

Bayubay, Edmund Neil T.

Liongson, Pia A.

Manalang, Daryll C.

March 2015
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Prospective Abstract

Church and society are frowning when it comes to pre-marital sex or having a sexual

relationship outside of marriage. In the Philippines, students who have been found pregnant

or having sexual relationships out of wedlock can be ground for expulsion especially to the

Catholic schools, but the students who are the father of the child can continue their study.

Expulsion is sanctions given by the schools, which a student prohibits to enroll to any

public and private school. Using a grounded theory as methodology, three students the

proposed study sought to answer the research question, why unmarried pregnant students

are being expelled, while the students who impregnate them are not. The researchers used

a semi-structured interview in gathering the data. . Schools, who are expelling pregnant

student are the participants of the study they will identified using snowball technique. The

researchers used a semi-structured interview in gathering the data. And to supplement all

the data needed the researchers will interview a judges or law expert, the CEAP and CBCP,

and a legislator.
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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

The Philippine Statistics Authority (2014) reported that one out of ten (10 percent)

young Filipino women aged 15-19 are already pregnant based on the final report of the

2013 National Demographic and Health Survey.  Also, the said survey reveals that one in

five (19 percent) young adult Filipino women aged 18 to 24 years are already engaged in

sexual activity before they reach the age of 18 and some of them had their first intimate

sexual act before marriage (Philippine Statistics Authority, 2014). In regard to the cited

statistics, church and society are frowning when it comes to pre-marital sex involving

women especially to the young girls because society expected to preserve their ‘virginity’

to their partners within legal limits (Ramiro, 2014).

There are various reasons may the student can be expelled, depending on the

bylaws of an academic institution such as gambling, cheating, carrying firearms or deadly

weapon, stealing and damaging school property (Angeles University Foundation, 2013). In

the Philippines, having a sexual relationship or getting pregnant outside of marriage was

used as a ground for expulsion to the student especially to the Catholic schools. In an

interview with Msgr. Gerry Santos, President of the Catholic Educational Association of

the Philippines (CEAP), he defended the stand of the Catholic schools regarding of

expelling unmarried pregnant students and he  said that, “Catholic schools are committed to

the teaching of Catholic Church that we are not allowed to have sexual relationship outside
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of the sacrament of marriage and we need to consider the belief of the Roman Catholic, a

belief that was embraced by the Catholic schools”.

However, in 2009 a law was passed that banning the dismissal of unmarried women

who work or study in an academic institution. But the CEAP seeks for an exemption from

the provision of the law. That Catholic school has the right to fire or expel unmarried

women who are pregnant since it was against to the moral teaching of the Church.

The law, which opposed by the CEAP was the Republic Act No. 9710 or the Magna

Carta of Women, Art. IV, Sec. 13, which covers the rights of unmarried students who get

pregnant to able to continue her studies, states that:

(c) expulsion and non-readmission of women faculty due to

pregnancy outside of marriage shall be outlawed. No school

shall turn out or refuse admission to a female student solely on

the account of her having contracted pregnancy outside

marriage during her term in school.

That being the case in catholic schools, women who are pregnant out of wedlock

are expelled, suspended or subjected to take a leave of absence. Consequently, being

pregnant are only shouldered by the women especially when they are still a student, and

sometimes they were disowned by their family, since being pregnant at young age is not a

natural occurrences in the Philippines (Ramiro, 2014). Also Ramiro (2014) added that these

women are unable to continue or finish school either because the school administration are

not accepting them back or of preoccupation in motherhood. Sometimes, women who got

pregnant decided to drop from school due to the fear of they will not be admitted by the

school. In the interview report of a news program in the Philippines, a student was called

by the school administrator when they noticed that her tummy is getting bigger, the student
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decided to stop going to school because she feels that the school administrators are ‘mainit

ang mga mata’ (scrutinizing) because school administrator thinks that other students will

become infected with the notion that such behavior is acceptable to their school (Flores,

2009).

Due to that fact, students who have been found having sexual relationships or who

got pregnant out of wedlock can be a ground for expulsion. Expulsion is the most severe

punishment that a school or an academic institution can impose to their students who

committed violation (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2003). Expulsion itself is a

traumatic and stressful event, students who have been expelled may change their life,

which it might result to serious negative consequence (Coleman, 2015), such as socio-

emotional effect. An expelled student has difficulty with access to appropriate educational

alternatives (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2003).  More so, in the research of Coleman

(2015) her participants reported that they ecperienced extreme sadness, depression, and

suicidal ideation after the time they expelled. According to Imbong (2009) “education for

women remains the most vital tool in the promotion of equality between men and women

and in the empowerment of women to contribute fully to society.” (p. 2).  The fact that they

cannot finish their studies these students may have limited job opportunities since in the

present time the minimum requirement to get a stable job is to have a college degree.

Most often than not, women is only the one facing the consequences of early

pregnancy, whether emotionally, socially and academically. In the study of Anyanwu,

Goon, and Tugli (2013), students perceived that an unwanted pregnancy could have health

implications for the young mother and can result shame, withdrawal from the society,

suicidal attempts, child neglect and abandonment. According to Olmstead, Koon,

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Puhlman, Pasley, & Fincham, (2012) researchers have almost solely focused on women

when it comes to pregnancy that limited attention are brought to the fathers of the child.

Social norms for women tended to be stricter, conservative compare to men, such as

women must adhere to strict roles in courtship and dating and expected to behave in

socially approved ways (Ramiro, 2014). With the passing of the Magna Carta for Women,

the consequences of unwanted pregnancies, expulsions and academics to women, it is

questionable where the role of the man who impregnates the woman takes place. Seeing

that, the researchers are intrigued as to why only girls who are pregnant out of the sanctity

of marriage are expelled from an academic institution.

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Statement of the Problem

Women who got pregnant out of wedlock are being expelled or they are not allowed

to come back after they give birth while the man who makes them pregnant are allowed to

continue. Thus, the present research sought to answer the research question:

1. Why unmarried pregnant students are being expelled, while the students who

impregnate them are not?

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Significance of the Study

Concerning the increasing number of students who get involved in sexual activities,

many of them are getting pregnant due to unprotected sex and individuals who come about

pregnant in school are expelled and are not allowed to attend school once they have been

pregnant, while individuals responsible for causing the unpredicted pregnancy are granted

the privilege to continue their schooling. Because of this, it led a numerous account of

individuals being denied to freely access education. Some of these students have been

proven determined in pursuing their studies and consistently manifested positive behaviors

about finishing their education.

1. Field of Psychology. The findings of the present study can contribute in the field of

Psychology, since experiences of students who have been expelled received a

limited attention in literatures. It can also impart knowledge about the experiences

of pregnant students who have been expelled, the effects of expulsion, and to give

an idea about the perception of people towards to women since, only unmarried

women are being expelled when they got pregnant but the man who impregnates

them are not.

2. School Administrator. Another main focus of this study is about the policy of

schools in expelling unmarried students when they have been found pregnant. With

this study, schools and academic institutions are able to know the possible effects of

expelling students just because they are pregnant. More so, this study will remind

them that there is a law that prohibiting not to accept unmarried pregnant students

and faculty regardless if it is a Catholic or non-Catholic school. Findings of this

study can provide them an idea to formulate a program that fits and support these
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students. Also, to help them convene parameters on how they will deal and

administer considerations with these students.

3. Government. The government is an agency that is responsible for protecting its

every citizens, the findings will make the government address the place of activity

which contribute to early pregnancy and also consider the issue added so that it will

audits its educational policies and laws to provide students who get pregnant to

freely access their education by means of implementing the law. This study will

also come up with recommendations that might be used in giving attention to the

problems of schoolgirl pregnancies to anticipate their rights towards education.

4. Students. The primary stakeholder of this study is the students regardless of their

education level. The findings of the study can shed some light about the experience

of being pregnant that can lead to expulsion. More so, they can also be aware the

negative consequences of pregnancy and expulsion, which can lead to prevention of

having a sexual relationship

5. Parents. The study can help them to be more involved and promote partnership

between the students that will increase parental involvement imparting necessary

knowledge about the risks of engaging in sexual activities.

6. Teachers/ Professors. School is our second home, and the teachers are our second

parents, teachers also plays an important role in molding us. The findings of this

study will shed some light in the current situation of their students and to

supplement the explanations why students are behaving in such a way that it will

help them understand and give some due considerations that will assist them on

how they will approach and deal with the students. And to provide their students,
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some useful information about the risk of engaging in sexual activities and the

consequences of being pregnant which can lead to expulsion.

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Scope and Delimitation of the Study

        This study will be guided by the answering the question of why unmarried pregnant

students are being expelled, while the students who impregnate them are not. Using

grounded theory, the researchers will able to understand in depth the experiences of

students who were expelled.

The result of this study does not reflect to all pregnant students who have been

expelled in other schools, with that, the validity of the study is only limited according to the

participant’s culture, society, and environment, in which the participants experienced. The

time that will allocate for this study will be roughly a year.

       
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Definition of Terms

Some terms were used throughout the course of the proposed study and defined to

assist the reader to become familiar and easy to understand some of the concepts. This

section will show on how the researcher and other scholarly articles used the following

terms.

Grounded Theory

As defined by Martin and Turner (1986) “is an inductive, theory discovery methodology

that allows the researcher to develop a theoretical account of the general features of a topic

while simultaneously grounding the account in empirical observations or data” (p. 141). In

the proposed study grounded theory is qualitative research, which seeks to understand

deeper a phenomenon and create a theory based on the data acquired using the technique of

coding.

R.A. 9710 or Magna Carta of Women

The Philippine Statistics Authority- Gender Development Committee (2010, p. 2) defined

the RA 9710 or Magna Carta of Women as “is comprehensive women’s human rights law

that seeks to eliminate discrimination against women by recognizing, protecting, fulfilling

and promoting the rights of Filipino women, especially those in marginalized sector.”It is a

law that reiterates that women’s right is human’s right that will need to respect at home,

school and work and it condemns any form of discrimination and seeks to protect the rights

of women in the Philippines.

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Expulsion

Expulsion as defined by the Angeles University Foundation (2013, p. 32) “is an extreme

form of administrative sanction which prohibits the student from entry to any public or

private school.” Expulsion is a type of sanction or punishment given by the schools or

academic institutions to the students who violated their rules and regulations. Students who

have been expelled will not be allowed to enroll in any public and private school in the

Philippines.

Coding

Charmaz (2006) and Urquhart (2013) defined coding as is the process attaching conceptual

labels into data. In the proposed study coding will use as the process of data analysis,

which the researchers will attach concepts or the theme emerged in the transcription of the

interview using a line-by-line analysis.

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Disagreement arises whether to use an existing literatures in the field of grounded

theory research (Dunne, 2011). Glaser and Strauss (1967), the proponent of the grounded

theory suggested that ‘An effective strategy is, at first, literally to ignore the literature of

theory and fact on the area under study’ (p.37). Indeed Charmaz (2006, p.165) also

suggested that the use of literatures in grounded theory must be avoided ‘to avoid

importing preconceived idea and imposing them on your work. Delaying the review

encourages you to articulate your ideas’.

        Thus, the present study reviewed the available literatures that is related with

expelling a pregnant students out of wedlock to help fasten the research process and to

improve recent studies to the current knowledge in the area of study.

Expulsion

School is an institution that the primary responsibility is to educate their students.

More so, it is also the responsibility of the school to maintain a culture and environment

where all their students are safe, nurtured, and civility are expected standards of behavior

(American Academy of Pediatrics, 2003). Schools are challenged by their students who are

disruptive and antisocial (Osher, Bear, Sprague, & Doyle, 2010). Without a questions,

schools must maintain school safety and promote student learning by means of external

discipline, such as office referrals, corporal punishment, suspensions, and expulsions.

(Osher, Bear, Sprague, & Doyle, 2010; Skiba & Rausch, 2006). Expulsion is the most

severe punishment that a school or an academic institution can impose to their students
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who committed violation (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2003). In the report of Human

Rights Watch (2014), the Tanzanian government allows the schools to expel or exclude

students who commit an offense “against morality,” which is often understood to mean pre-

marital sex or pregnancy. In the Philippines, Church and State are frowning when it comes

to pre-marital sex that is why Catholic schools used the pregnancy or engaging in sexual

relationships out of wedlock as a ground for expulsion because it is against the moral

teaching of the Catholic Church, where in the Catholic schools embraced (Ramiro, 2014;

Flores, 2009).

Students who were expelled can change their life, which it has been documented the

serious negative consequences of expulsion (Coleman, 2015). Students who have been

expelled manifested a low scholastic performance and performing well below average in

terms of grades and achievement scores (Davis & Jordan, 1994; Morrison, Anthony,

Storino, Cheng, Furlong, & Morrison, 2001) also, suspension and expulsion

disproportionately affect students with emotional and behavioral disorders (Osher, Bear,

Sprague, & Doyle, 2010, p.48). An expelled student has difficulty with access to

appropriate educational alternatives (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2003).

Marriage

Marriage is a social institution that unites people in a special form of mutual

dependence for the purpose of founding and maintaining a family. According to the

Merriam-Webster dictionary, marriage is the state of being united to a person of the

opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by

law or the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a

traditional marriage.
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According to a UNICEF survey on child marriage 2% percent of the population in

the Philippines is married by the age of 15 and 14% are married by the age of 18.

(UNICEF, 2014) Many societies have norms that limit the age of young girls to enter

marriage. Factors that interact to place a girl at risk of marriage, includes poverty, the

perception that marriage will provide ‘protection’, family honor, social norms, customary

or religious laws that condone the practice, an inadequate legislative framework and the

state of a country's civil registration system. (UNICEF, 2014)

In the Philippines marriage can be considered as a religious right. (Abot, n.d.)

Because 86 percent of population is Roman Catholic (Miller, 2014) the Catholic Church

teaches that marriage comes as a gift from the hand of God. The Catholic vision of

marriage is rooted in Sacred Scripture and is expressed in the teachings and practices of the

Church. It has these main elements: Marriage unites a couple in faithful and mutual love,

opens a couple to giving life, way to respond to God’s call to holiness, calls the couple to

be a sign of Christ’s love in the world. (Catholic Beliefs) Marriage and pregnancy at a

young age are not unusual occurrences in the Philippines. In olden times, early marriage

was the norm, especially in traditional kinship-based indigenous cultures. Girls married as

soon as menarche commenced. Arranged marriages were also common. These traditional

practices were usually tied up with beliefs about gender roles, specifically women’s role in

society, traditional family norms, and premium given to virginity, poverty, and lack of

productive pursuits and educational opportunities for women. (Ramiro, 2014)

As with every marriage there are stresses, and difficulties but because adolescents

have yet to develop their individuality, education, and career they are more prone to the

problems of marriage (Vue, 2000) Adolescent marriage is associated not only with a higher
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rate of dissolution of first marriages by with subsequent marriages as well. (Teti, Lamb,

Elster, 1987)

In a 2012 study conducted by Olmstead, Koon, Puhlman, Pasley, & Fincham a

qualitative content analysis of written responses from 148 college men to questions about

pregnancy resolution and marriage in the event of an unplanned pregnancy. There are three

emerging results in the study, Group 1: ‘‘I Expect to Raise My Child’’, Group 2: ‘‘I Don’t

Expect to Raise the Child’’ and Group 3: ‘‘I Expect to Let My Partner Decide’. Group 1

included the greatest number of men (86.5% of the total sample), it goes to show that they

want to stay in touch with their child and will not run away with their obligation in the

involvement with their child. Group 2 has (10.1% of the total sample) According to one of

the answers in the study one respondent answered ‘‘If my partner became pregnant, I

wouldn’t expect to marry or raise a child this early in my life.’’ The final group got (3.4%

of the total sample) these men expect to have their partner decide in the childrearing of the

child.

Pregnancy

According to Philippine Statistics Authority (2014) numbers of early pregnancy and

motherhood is more common among young adult women age 15 to 24 where being in college

level was expected. And 10% of young Filipino women aged 15 to 19 are already a mother.

This seeks to illustrate figures showing that countrywide, women between 15 and 24 years old

are already pregnant and give birth every year at very young ages. The issue of how to prevent

pregnancy revolves around what factors are identified as the causative influences. The sexual

behavior among the students in universities is expected to be wild and troublesome. It really

matters to pay attention and comprehend why the youth involve themselves in unsafe and risky
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behavior towards sex and to understand the factors that influences the behavior in this setting

(Abdullahi & Umar, 2013). This seeks to conclude that there are various factors that contribute

to the behavior of students towards pre-marital sex.

A reason was identified for the existence of pre-marital sex among students indicated

that love is a factor for engaging in premarital sex and student who wish to sustain their

economic needs, those who seek academic advantage, peers and other members of one’s social

group may influence one to engage in pre-marital sex (Abdullahi & Umar, 2013). There are

various factors that contribute to the engagement of many students to pre-marital sex--risky

reasons that may seek to sustain one’s needs through pre-marital sex.

Many indicated that love is a factor for engaging in pre-marital sex. Discussions

through groups and gender, on a very few situations, among the younger students, the vision

that engaging in sexual activities for love exists, and for many students, see relationship as an

outlet for the possibility of being married (Abdullahi & Umar, 2013). This explains that when

one is in a sexual relationship, students may be more susceptible to easily give in to the

intimacy and profound feeling of love by engaging in sexual activities solely for the reason of

being in love. Some engage through sexual relationships hoping to be established with

someone through marriage.

Similarly, the need for money, materialism and other cherished properties. These are

other reasons for the engaging towards sexual activities. Students need money; many students

may eagerly feel the need of it and can do anything just to get money (Abdullahi & Umar,

2013). This posited that many students engage in sexual activities for economic reasons. Many

students may feel the need to earn money just meet their needs.
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Separately to love and economic needs, what influences a student to engage in pre-marital sex

is the influence of their peers. Peers and other members of one’s social group members may

influence others to conform and engage in sexual activities (Abdullahi & Umar, 2013). Many

students are usually encouraged in engaging in sexual activities by the influence of their peers

and the people who are in their social circle, the pressure that arises from what peers dictates.

Many are also indulging in pre-marital sex solely for the pleasure of it but are potential carriers

of HIV/AIDS (Abdullahi & Umar, 2013). Many students who finds difficulty in academics,

considers pre-marital sex as a channel for achievement. Many students were engaging in pre-

marital sex seek for academic reasons. Also, many students seek premarital sex as a pleasurable

activity but are not aware of the sexually transmitted disease they may acquire through

engaging sexual activities with different partners.

Another line of thought on reasons for premarital sex demonstrates that, being active

sexually is the initial step to pregnancy and parenthood (Sonenstein, 1996). One aspect which

illustrates student pregnancy is one’s attention and engagement towards sexual activities.

Sexually active individuals are defined as those who have had sexual intercourse in the past

three months—are at immediate risk of unintended pregnancy (Data Bank, 2014), but

according to Sonenstein (1996) the lack of efficient information on how males could and

should add in the effort of pregnancy prevention. This seeks to prove that the males may also

contribute in the process of preventing the pre-marital sex and much more in the pregnancy

among young adult women. According to Abdullahi and Umar (2013), some girls think that

engaging in sexual activities with the relationship with someone may indicate trite love. And in

some cases, when males have experienced sexual relations with a girl, many males tend to

discontinue their relationships because they were never ready for marriage. This seeks to
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describe that there are male students who engage in sexual relationships but refuses to continue

such relationships because of the inability to stay hooked for marriage.

Pregnancies are often described as unplanned if they are said to have occurred at the

most undesired time (Santelli et.al, 2003). Education is believed to develop knowledge and

build up resources that promote potentials for economic empowerment for better livelihood and

social development (Egenti & Omoruyi, 2011). This seeks to inform the effect of education in

relation to how well a student know about the risks of pregnancy especially to her schooling.
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CHAPTER III

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

The methodology is the most important part of the research paper; it provides

information, which the study’s validity is judge (Kallet, 2004). This chapter discussed how

the data gathered and analyzed. It also presents the research design, the sampling method,

and the participants. More so, it describes in full detail the locale of the study, the research

design, the population and the particular subjects or respondents included, and the analysis

of data.

Research Design

The proposed study is qualitative in nature using a grounded theory as a

methodology because it is useful for the researchers who are inquiring in to a phenomenon

where there is minimal or limited previous research (Engward, 2013) and to answer the

research question that will used for the treatment of the data obtained through tape-

recorded interview and observation. Using a qualitative research, the researchers would

able to connect with their participants and to see the world from their viewpoints (Corbin &

Strauss, 2015).

Grounded theory as research methodology emphasized the systematically deriving

theories from concept derived, developed and integrated based on empirical data (Urquhart,

2013; Corbin & Strauss, 2015).  Aside from the emphasis on theory development,

grounded theory methodology focuses in inquiring into what happens in a social context to

uncover patterns in social life of which the research participants are aware or not (Engward,
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2013). More so, analysis and data collection are interrelated, which it continues in an

ongoing process throughout the study (Corbin & Strauss, 2015).

Research Participants and Sampling Methodology

Participants of the proposed study compose of different people in the society:

School admintsrators, judges or law experts, legislators, Catholic Bicshop Conference of

the Philippines (CBCP), Catholic Education Association of the Philippines (CEAP), and

students who have expelled. Participants will indentify thru purposive sampling. Using

purposive sampling, it enhanced the understanding of the researchers to the selected

individuals or groups’ experience (Dever & Frankel, 2000) that can help them to choose

their participants that will be fit for the study. Snowball technique will also be use to easily

determine the students who have been expelled. According to Johnston and Sabin (2010),

“snowball sampling is a chain referral sampling method that relies on referrals from initial

subjects to generate additional subjects” (p.38).

There are practical reasons why the proposed study will use purposive sampling and

snowball technique, by using the snowball technique the researchers are able to identify

easily the expelled students since their cases are limited, and purposive sampling is used to

determine the other participants in the study.

Research Locale

The locale of the proposed study will occur in selected schools in Pampanga,

Philippines from where the qualified participants were studied. The names of school where

the participants studied will not be mentioned for their privacy.

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Research Instruments

Semi-structured interview

A semi-structured interview will use in collecting data. This type of interview is the

most familiar strategy in collecting qualitative data (Bloom & Crabtree, 2006), which it can

help the researchers to obtain all the necessary information needed and to allow the

researchers to ask follow-up questions for clarification. The researchers will guided by the

research problem of the present study in formulating the guide questions. The self-made

questionnaire will be content validated by 3 professionals who are expert in the field.

Data Gathering Procedure

Before conducting the interview, the researchers will send a letter of request to the

schools and institutions to conduct the interview, once they approved our request, the date,

time and place of the interview will be ask to them for the sake of participant’s convience.

Prior to the interview, the researcher will be explained the study and the questions to be

asked during the interview

Participants have the rights to withdraw or to discontinue their participation at any

time. More so, they also have the rights to refuse to answer any question in the interview.

In addition, their individual privacy will maintain in all published and written data resulting

from the proposed study.

In the interview, the experimenter will informed the participants that the interview

will tape-recorded for the transcription purposes. The researchers will be guided by semi-

structured questions that will validated by the professionals that are related to the field of

study. The researchers will used a semi-structured interview to ask follow-up questions to
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clarify the answers given by the participants and to get all the information needed for the

study.

Each interview will be transcribed verbatim, and it will presented by the

participants to review it. All identifying information will be deleted to maintain their

privacy.

Data Analysis

Analysis in qualitative research seeks to organize and reduce the data into themes or

essences, which it can turn into description, models, or theories (Walker & Myrick, 2006).

As Dey (1993) suggested, “we break down the data in order to classify it, and the concepts

we create or employ in classifying the data, and the connections we make between these

concepts, provide the basis of a fresh description” (p.31). In grounded theory, the coding is

the process of analyzing the data (Walker & Myrick, 2006). According to Corbin and

Straus (1998) “analysis is the interplay both the researcher and the data” (p.13).

Coding

        The coding used in qualitative traditions is similar in grounded theory but it is also

much more (Walker & Myrick, 2006). Researchers will treat the data using the process of

coding. Coding is attaching conceptual labels into data, which it is important to the

development of a grounded theory (Urquhart, 2013 & Charmaz, 2006). According to

Charmaz (2006, p.46), ‘coding is the pivotal link between collecting data and developing

an emergent theory to explain these data. Through coding, the researchers will intervene,

manipulated, act on, conceptualized, and used specific techniques to generate or discover

the theory (Walker & Myrick, 2006) and they will define what is happening in the data and

begin to grapple with what it means.

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There are four types of coding approaches for qualitative research - bottom-up

coding, top-down coding, mid-range and thematic coding (Urquhart, 2013). In the proposed

study, the researchers’ will be using bottom-up coding, which codes are suggested by the

data, not by literatures (Urquhart, 2013) since the aim of this research is to come up with a

theory that will answer the research problem.  After, the researchers determined the coding

approach. The next step is the coding procedures. The type of coding proposed by Strauss

and Corbin (1998) will use in the present study.

Fig1. Process of coding

OPEN CODING
Deriving Concepts

AXIAL CODING
Concepts to Categories

SELECTIVE CODING
Selecting core category
Integration process
Refining the theory

Open Coding

Coding occurs in stages. The analytic process begins with the open coding, the

researchers will then used line-by-line analysis, which involves close examination of data,

phrase by phrase and sometimes word-by-word (Corbin & Strauss, 1998). By means of

open coding concepts will emerge from the research. Concepts that conceptually similar in
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nature or related in meaning will be grouped into more abstract concepts turned to

categories.

Axial Coding

Following open coding, axial coding is performed. In this stage, categories make

connections to its subcategories along the line of their properties and dimensions that looks

for answer to the questions why, where, when, how, and with what results (Corbin &

Strauss, 1998) answering these questions will help the researchers to contextualize the

phenomenon.

Selective Coding

The last stage is the selective coding wherein the researchers will select a core

category or the main phenomenon and relates all the other categories to the core as well as

to other categories (Bohm, 2004; Walker & Myrick, 2006). The central category represents

the main theme of the research, which it has the ability to pull together all the categories to

form an explanatory whole (Corbin & Strauss, 1998).

In determining, the central category the researchers will use the criteria provided by

Strauss (1987):

1. It must be central, that is, related to as many other categories and their

properties as is possible and more than other candidates for the position of

core category.

2. It must appear frequently in the data.

3. The core category relates easily to other categories. These connections need

not be forced; rather they come quickly and abundantly.

4. A core category in a substantive study has clear implications for a more

general theory.
 ANGELES UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION 27

5. As the details of a core category are worked out analytically, the theory

moves forward appreciably.

6. The core category allows for building in the maximum variation to the

analysis, since the researcher is coding in terms of its dimensions,

properties, conditions, consequences, strategies and so on (p. 36).

After the researchers determined the central category, they will proceed to the

integration process. Corbin and Strauss (1998) suggested techniques that can be used to

facilitate the integration process, such as telling or writing the storyline , using diagrams,

sorting and reviewing memos, and using computer programs. Once the theoretical scheme

was outlined, the researchers then proceeds to the refining the theory, trimming off excess

and filling in poorly developed categories.

Finally, the theory will be validated and researchers will compare it to raw data or

by presenting it to respondents for their reactions. A theory that is grounded in data should

be recognizable to participants, and although it might not fit every aspect of their cases, the

larger concepts should apply (Corbin & Strauss, 1998, p. 161).

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