ELC doctoral students have the option of choosing a research concentration in Grounded Theory and Grounded Action which focuses on developing premier researchers, practitioners and leaders of change equipped with the ability to diagnose the complex, multidimensional nature of social and organizational systems, and to formulate creative, workable, effective interventions through the use of Grounded Theory and Grounded Action. To earn this concentration, students engage in a research training sequence that consists of a series of four modules in a cluster-based, self-directed, collaborative learning environment supported by technology and diverse connectivity strategies.

Requirements for the Concentration
The Research Concentration in Grounded Theory and Grounded Action provides comprehensive training in Grounded Theory and Grounded Action by means of a four Knowledge Area (KA) sequence.

The Learning Environment: Individual and Self-Directed Learning, Online Learning, Virtual Learning Communities, and Face-to-Face Opportunities
Students engage in cluster based, self-directed, yet collaborative learning by means of technology and diverse connectivity strategies. The sequence is offered in a series of four modules. The four module series is offered three times a year. Individual Knowledge Area credit is given as each module is completed.

Knowledge Area Requirements

The information below describes how each of the Knowledge Areas required by the concentration will have a special focus in addition to what is described in the course descriptions found on line.

• Module 1: ELC 751, Action Oriented Research: Foundations and Models of Research (EdD core KA requirement). General Methods and Research Design include an introduction to epistemological and ontological foundations of research, survey of research methods and basic research design as well as an overview and critique of action research and Grounded Action.

• Module 2: ELC 754, Area of Specialization: Grounded Theory. Includes an overview of Grounded Theory, critical thinking and theoretical sensitivity, data collection and analysis, formulating and writing a grounded theory.

• Module 3: ELC 755, Area of Research Specialization: Grounded Action. Includes an overview of Grounded Action as a methodological process, delineation of the explanatory and operational theories, ethics of Grounded Action and change agency, grounded facilitation and grounded intervention.

• Module 4: ELC 753, Systems Thinking and Intervention: The Dynamics of Change and Diversity (EdD core KA requirement). Introduction to the theoretical foundations of Systems Thinking. Consideration of the systems aspects of social phenomena and social problems as well as the dynamics of social and organizational systems.

To summarize:

Eighty units via eight ten-unit Knowledge Areas are included in three categories:

ELC Core (40 units)
ELC 751 Action-Oriented Research (10 units) – see above
ELC 752 Leadership and Change (10 units)
ELC 753 Systems Thinking and Intervention (10 units) – see above
ELC 769 Structural Inequality and Diversity (10 units)

Concentration in Grounded Action (20 units in addition to the ones above)
ELC 754 Area of Specialization: Grounded Theory (10 units)
ELC 755 Area of Research Specialization: Grounded Action (10 units)

Electives (20 units)
ELC XXX Elective KA (10 units)
ELC XXX Elective KA (10 units)

To complete the Ed. D degree you must also complete an additional 21 units in the following areas:

21 Units that include the following:
Learning Plan (3 units)
Comprehensive Assessment (credit only)
Dissertation (18 units)
Total Units: 101

Concentration Leadership: Odis Simmons, PhD

Faculty:
Michael Raffanti, EdD
Susan Stillman, EdD
Kara L. VanderLinden, EdD

Dr. Odis Eugene Bigus Simmons was awarded a PhD in sociology in 1974 from the University of California, San Francisco, where he received training in Grounded Theory from its originators, Barney G. Glaser and Anselm L. Strauss. He also did graduate work in social psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno. He has devoted his career to researching and devising ways of using Grounded Theory as a foundation for action. One result of these efforts is a methodological rather than preconceived clinical/theoretical approach to conducting counseling and psychotherapy which he refers to as "Grounded Therapy" that he researched and devised during many years as a practicing counselor/therapist. Another result is "Grounded Action," which he devised with his colleague and co-author, Dr. Toni Gregory. He has served academic appointments on the Sociology and Urban Studies faculties at the University of Tulsa, as director and faculty member of the Katharyn Cornell School of Alcohol and Other Drugs Studies at the University of Tulsa, as Director of Research and Development for the Self-Care Program in the Yale University School of Medicine, and currently as a faculty member in the Educational Leadership and Change Doctoral Program at the Fielding Graduate University, where he and Dr. Gregory teach a doctoral-level research training sequence in Grounded Theory and Grounded Action.