Grounded Theory in Qualitative Research in Music Education: Conceptual Boundaries, Constructions and Potential

Qualitative research has gained prominence in academic and scientific research in music education over the last few decades providing a variety of thematic, theoretical, and methodological approaches. As a way of contributing to the development of this research, this article deals with grounded theory, a method/methodology that brings together a set of techniques and systematic procedures of analysis and interpretation with the purpose of constructing theories rooted in empirical data. To this end, the article discusses the origin, definition, characteristics, epistemological assumptions and data analysis procedures of grounded theory. Finally, it presents select research studies that were developed with this method and introduces considerations about its potential in the construction of theories specific to the field of music education.