This month in our highlight series we are taking a look at a new article posted in The Psychology of Men and Masculinities that takes a look at the use of critical-constructivist grounded theory as a methodology for studying gender. We asked the author to talk about her article’s stance on the analytical framework and how it could be used in the future.

Levitt, H. M., Kehoe, K. A., Hand, A. B., & Pierorazio, N. A. (2025). Critical-constructivist grounded theory research: A methodology for the critical study of gender, masculinities, and other identities. Psychology of Men & Masculinities. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000526

What were the key questions you were addressing in this article?

The article (Levitt et al., 2026) considers why critical-constructivist grounded theory (CCGT; Levitt, 2021) is a strong method for studying genders and other identities, with a focus on queer masculinities. CCGT brings a range of critical qualitative methods to the use of grounded theory, making it a method that is sensitive to both meaning creation and the workings of power, oppression, and privilege when studying a topic.

What were the main conclusions of your article?

The article walks the reader through the use of CCGT, describing strategies that guide critical researchers to attend to interpersonal, structural, policy, and institutional forms of power. The article describes why and how these considerations are important in each step of the design, data collection, analytic, and reporting process. It describes why these strategies are particularly helpful when studying genders, such as masculinity, which are situated both within people’s very personal experiences as well as larger social dynamics.

What are the key implications of your article for research, policy, or practice?

The CCGT approach guides researchers to think reflexively in two ways. They are guided to consider how their expectations on the topic might influence their analysis and how their positionality and history might have led them to ask certain questions or hear certain ideas but not others. At the same time, they are encouraged to think about the expectation and positionality of their participants. This allows researchers to consider how to best engage with participants to encourage them to share their experiences as fully as possible. These considerations can include thinking about such issues as how researchers should introduce themselves, who is the best person to conduct an interview, and how they can manage their perspectives throughout the study. They include thinking about how to incorporate participatory methods in grounded theory and how to develop findings that are useful for the communities and issues under study.

Where do you see this line of research heading in the future (i.e., what’s next)?

CCGT has been applied to a range of topics at this point. Recent examples include the study of Black men’s experience of counseling (Shannon & White, 2026), qualitative meta-analyses on trans identity development (Kehoe & Levitt, 2025), posttraumatic stress disorder related to childhood mistreatment (Marin et al., 2026), multiracial identity for Asian-White individuals (Kim-Ju & Lee, 2024), and experiences of nonbinary psychotherapists (Goates et al., 2024). I expect that these topics will continue to expand to explore more identities and experiences.

Also, the CCGT process uses an approach to consensus called “intersubjective recognition” that stems from feminist epistemology (Levitt, Morrill et al., 2021). It supports researchers to bring their full selves into the analytic process and to value their lived experiences as well as other forms of knowledge that can enhance the analytic process. I expect that this critical approach to consensus will be used both in connection with and independently of CCGT, in connection with other qualitative methods.

How did you become interested in this line of inquiry?

I began using grounded theory when I was a graduate student myself, but my research on LGBTQ+ genders continued to push me to develop the approach. For instance, I folded in participatory methods, developed critical approaches to consensus, and began to synthesize my critical methodological thinking into each aspect of grounded theory. It was important to me that the method become a relational approach that is grounded in feminist ethics. As I began supervising graduate students and teaching them this way of thinking, it became more important to me to develop CCGT as a line of grounded theory. In this article, I was excited to write with coauthors who have used CCGT and it has been wonderful to hear their enthusiasm for the approach. This reception has motivated me to write the CCGT book and now motivated us to write this article. We see CCGT as an approach that is particularly relevant to our time and the questions we are asking today.

References:

Goates, J. D., Szymanski, D. M., Pulice-Farrow, L., & Gonzalez, K. A. (2024). “Me being myself isn’t a barrier”: Identity and praxis of nonbinary psychotherapists. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 71(1), 48–62. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000718

Kehoe, K. A., & Levitt, H. M. (2025). Correcting myths underlying anti-trans legislation: Qualitative meta-analysis on transgender identity development. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 72(6), 748–764. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000827

Kim-Ju, G. M., & Lee, J. (2024). An exploration of multiracial identity development, worldviews, and social realities of Asian–White individuals. Qualitative Psychology, 11(3), 444–464. https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000291

Levitt, H. M. (2021, January). Essentials of Critical-Constructivist Grounded Theory Research. In book series, Introduction to Qualitative Methods (Series Eds., C. E. Hill & S. Knox). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/pubs/books/essentials-critical-constructivist-grounded-theory-research

Levitt, H. M., Kehoe, K. A., Hand, A. B., & Pierorazio, N. A. (2026). Critical-constructivist grounded theory research: A methodology for the critical study of gender, masculinities, and other identities. Psychology of Men & Masculinities, 27(4). https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000526

Levitt, H. M., Ipekci, B., Morrill, Z. & Rizo, J. (2021). Intersubjective recognition as the methodological enactment of epistemic privilege: A critical basis for consensus and intersubjective confirmation procedures. Qualitative Psychology, 8(3), 407- 427. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/qup0000206

Marin, N., Nöske, F., Beutel, M. E., Hermann, A., Hoyer, J., Knaevelsrud, C., Kolassa, I.- T., Kruse, J., Leichsenring, F., Niemeyer, H., Salzer, S., Sauer, K., Siebert, M., Tumani, V., Weidner, K., Von Wietersheim, J., & Steinert, C. (2026). Navigating under pressure: Psychotherapists’ experiences in a randomized controlled trial of posttraumatic stress disorder related to childhood maltreatment. Psychotherapy Research, 36(5), 886–900. https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2025.2541706

Shannon, J., & White, L. (2026). Black men’s continuation in counseling: A critical constructivist grounded theory. Journal of Counseling & Development. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcad.70049

Critical-Constructivist Grounded Theory Research: A Methodology for the Critical Study of Gender, Masculinities, and Other Identities

Society for the Psychology of Men and Masculinities , Division 51 of the American Psychological Association.

Critical-Constructivist Grounded Theory Research: A Methodology for the Critical Study of Gender, Masculinities, and Other Identities

Loren Frankel Student Researcher Award

Society for the Psychology of Men and Masculinities , Division 51 of the American Psychological Association.