ABSTRACT
Anselm Strauss’s worldview had its foundation in his early college years. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Virginia (1935–1939). There he was introduced to the pragmatist philosophers such as John Dewey, William James (1968), and C. S. Peirce (1877). Herbert Blumer (1969) also had a great influence on Strauss’s thinking. Blumer took Mead’s idea of interaction further by emphasizing its symbolic nature. Theoretical sensitivity denotes insight into implied meaning contained in the words or actions of participants. Sensitivity usually grows as a researcher moves along with his or her analysis. Saturation is a widely misunderstood concept and is often used as an excuse to terminate data collection early. A researcher draws upon the tools in his or her analytic tool box as the analytic situation demands. The significance of the concept “prewar self” was not evident to the author at this early stage of analysis.
