The routine agenda, Theory Building Training (TBT), was held some time ago on April 26-27, 2019 in Universitas Gadjah Madas Faculty of Psychology. After last years basic level TBT, this years grounded theory-themed TBT was for the intermediate level, thus the participants were recommended to have already acquired the basics of qualitative research methodology. The event, TBT Intermediate: Grounded Theory, brought in Dr. Bagus Riyono, M.A. for the first day of training and T. Novi Poespita Chandra, M.Si. for the second day of training.
The TBT participants came from various institutions, such as Universitas Islam Indonesia, Universitas Al-Azhar Indonesia, Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha, Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Surabaya, UIN Alauddin Makassar, Universitas Katolik Soegijapranata, UIN Sunan Kalijaga, Universitas Bhayangkara Jakarta Raya, as well as Universitas Gadjah Madas circle of academicians. The participants were also from various educational levels, starting from undergraduates to doctoral students. The registered participants had various motives to attend the training. Half of them wanted to deepen their knowledge about qualitative research by attending this training, not a few of them registered because of their academic needs such as for writing their dissertations, and there are participants who are motivated to attend to prepare them for their doctoral education.
There were 4 sessions on the first and second day. The first day of TBT was led by Dr. Bagus Riyono, M.A. The early sessions were lectures about the concepts of research using grounded theory, such as the general concept of the theory, the criteria for good theory, and also explanation about the realities that will be faced by grounded theory researchers in the field. One important thing to underline, according to Mr. Bagus, is that grounded theory research is not something easily done. A researcher has to be brave in digging up as many stories possible from respondents and should avoid asking irrelevant questions. Unfortunately, those kinds of questions are still asked by most researchers in order to extract stories. Dr. Bagus Riyono also warned participants about mental breakdowns, which grounded theory researchers are prone to experience.
T. Novi Poespita Chandra, M.Si. led the second day of TBT. In the first session, Mrs. Novi explained the Glaserian & Straussian schools of thought in grounded theory. She also provided an example of grounded theory research using her own research, titled Gerakan Sekolah Menyenangkan (Fun School Movement). The next session was filled with explanations regarding the practice of data analysis that consists of data collecting, note-taking, coding, and categorization, memoing, sorting, and the last stage, writing. In her lecture regarding techniques in analyzing data, Mrs. Novi stressed how important it is for researchers to provide information regarding time, either on paper or in other mediums each time the researcher decides to change the order of the data for future reference.
The first and second day of training ended with practicing data analysis and presenting the results of the participant’s discussion. The participants were divided into several groups to practice what they learned from the speakers throughout the training series. At the end of each training day, there was a photo session with the speaker present on that day and the gifting of tokens of appreciation from the committee to each speaker. (CICP/Ratri Arista)