“The growth that occurs (or is forced) with memoing is remarkable. The analyst literally grows personally in tandem1 with the depth of his2 theoretical understanding of the data3.” – Glaser
Memo Goals & Goal Rules
from Theoretical Sensitivity (Glaser, Page 83)
- theoretically Develop Ideas (codes)
- with Complete Freedom
- into a Memo Fund
- that is Highly Sortable
- title/caption the category/property memo is about
- highlight/underline other categories/properties
- two or more category memos may include a discussion of how categories/properties are related and categorized (hypothesis)
- copy memos for cut up
- write for cut up
- sort memos wherever they may fall
Other Rules
- memos and data are separated
- always interrupt coding or recording to memo; memo a placeholder if necessary
- can force a memo by writing on code; force as little as possible
- modify memos as growth and realization occur
- keep a list of emergent codes handy
- collapse duplicating codes
- conceptual not logical; note data (grounded) vs. conjecture driven
- run memos open long (so long as resources are available)
- talk conceptually about substantive codes, not people (etc.)
- multiple “burning” ideas should be written separately (for sortability)
- indicate saturation in memos when a category is saturated
- always be flexible in memo technique (no style)
1 Tandem can be substituted with “in proportion to”.
2 Him is an interchangable indicator for all intelligent referents.
3 Data is an interchangable indicator for phenomena;