Interrogating and addressing challenges and looking to the future of Constructivist Grounded Theory in educational research

In this final chapter of the Handbook, we summarise good Constructivist Grounded Theory (CGT) practice, interrogate and explore how to address challenges, and look to its future in educational research. Drawing on our review of the Handbook chapters, we highlight aspects of good practice relating to the use of the literature and extant theory, engagement in critical reflexivity and methodological self-consciousness, the development of intimate familiarity with research contexts, and the involvement of participants in the research process. Next, we identify, interrogate, and consider how to address key challenges in Grounded Theory (GT) research, including generating adequate data, appropriate engagement in theoretical sampling, and developing conceptual and theoretical analyses. Finally, we emphasise the importance of researchers who are interested in using CGT or GT having appropriate mentoring and support, and based on CGT evaluative criteria, we end by identifying a number of points upon which we encourage researchers to reflect as we look towards the future of CGT research in education.