―日本の医療分野における質的研究論文の検討（第3報）―データ分析

An Examination of Qualitative Research in the Japanese Health Sciences, Part 3 : Data Analysis

　2001年から2010年の間に医療系雑誌に掲載されたグラウンデッド・セオリー・アプローチ（以下，GTA）を用いた160本の原著論文の中で，分析手順（概念の抽出，概念の関係づけ）と技法（切片化，比較，理論的サンプリング，理論的飽和）がどう説明され，どう用いられているのかを検討した。まず，論文中でどう説明されているのかをみると，半数以上の論文で適切に説明されていたものは『概念の抽出』と『比較』だけであった。次に，どう行なわれたのかについては，論文中の記載から適切に行なわれたことが確認できたのは，『切片化』3割台，『比較』2割台，『概念の抽出』『理論的サンプリング』1割台の論文だけで，『概念の関係づけ』と『理論的飽和』に至っては，適切に行なわれたと推測できる論文は数えるほどしかなかった。結果的に，データに基づいた概念抽出が行なわれず，要約レベルの結果が示されたり，筆者の思いつきだけに依拠したような概念の関係づけが記載された論文が多く，新しい知見を適切に示した論文は2割にすぎなかった。以上から，現状はGTAが十分に理解され，適切に使用されているとはいい難い段階にあると評価せざるを得ないだろう。

　One hundred sixty original articles that used Grounded Theory Approach (GTA) and were published between 2001 and 2010 in health science journals were examined from the perspective of how data analysis procedures (extraction of concept, concept linkage) and techniques (line by line coding, comparison, theoretical sampling, theoretical saturation) were explained and implemented. Of these procedures and techniques that were tracked, only “extraction of concept” and “comparison” were appropriately explained in over half the articles. The implementation of techniques and procedures was also flawed. Based on what could be determined from the articles, the ones that used “line by line coding” correctly were in the thirty percent range of the total, the ones that used “comparisons” correctly were in the twenty percent range of the total, the ones that used “extraction of concepts” and “theoretical sampling” correctly were in the ten percent range of the total, and the ones that used “concept linkage” and “theoretical saturation” correctly amounted to only a small handful. Consequently, concepts were not developed based on data. Instead, many articles only summarized data, and many articles showed concept linkages that were based only on the authors' own impressions. Articles that appropriately developed new findings amounted to no more than twenty percent of the total. Considering this, it is difficult to say that GTA is properly understood and appropriately used.