Grounded Theory and research in criminology

Abstract

This article is a review and critique of Grounded Theory, one of the methods more used in qualitative research designs. Its apparent capacity to generate theories using an inductive approach has placed it as a relevant in several criminological researches. Some of the questions associated to epistemology and qualitative method in the design of researches in this discipline. The purpose is to explore the implications of this theory as an exploratory and inductive research method in criminological psychology, as a qualitative approach. The paper seeks to illustrate the opportunities and challenges that this methodology has brought to criminological psychology research. The results suggest some of the limitations at the moment to considerer it as an alternative in criminological research, although some of its procedures can be used, for example, the coding system.