With regard to the process of developing grounded theory, it may be argued that there are three basic stages that need to be addressed. The first deals with the collection and interpretation of the data and is mainly concerned with demonstrating how, why and from where early concepts and categories were derived. In accordance with the principles common to the method, any theory should be traceable back to the data (Goulding, 1999). Consequently, evidence needs to be provided as does the relationship between concepts, categories and this evidence.
The second stage is to 'abstract' the concepts and try to find theoretical meaning. At this stage the concepts should be adequately developed as to warrant an extensive re-evaluation of compatible literature in order to demonstrate the 'fit', relationship and, where applicable, the extension of that literature through the research findings.
The final stage should present the theory, bringing together the concepts and integrating them into categories which have explanatory power within the context of the research.