Costruzione teorica e problematicità del dato qualitativo "non testuale" nella Grounded Theory

This article illustrates and discusses how sociological theory is produced starting from empirical data with the grounded theory method of Glaser and Strauss. The article focuses on the importance of observation in qualitative research practices. With reference to a painting by Olivuccio di Ciccarello on the themes of care and health, the essay reflects critically and self-critically on the fact that, while observation is based on visual language, the production of so-ciological theory is, instead, based on verbal. What emerges is the problematic nature of quali-tative empirical data and its characteristic of data interpreted, translated, and constructed in research practices. [Publisher's text].