Building theory about computing education phenomena
Päivi Kinnunen, Beth S. Simon · 2010
Grounded theory originated in the 1960s and has been prominently used in the social sciences---particularly when new phenomena are explored and when new theoretical models are developed. Its use in CS education is however, relatively rare, especially given the number of unexplored aspects of computing education. The goals of this paper are four fold (1) to introduce the reader to grounded theory; (2) to describe the process involved in a grounded theory study based on our experiences in using it to study novices' experiences with programming assignments; (3) to identify pitfalls the authors experienced and make recommendations for others seeking to use grounded theory in computer science education, and: (4) to present an argument for more widespread adoption of this research methodology in CS-education.