Tonight I heard someone refer to a "grounded" idea as being one agreed upon by a group, whether provable fact or fictitious. I disagreed with her usage, but thought I'd run it by you all to see what you think. She said that an ungrounded assertion was one stated by an individual instead of a group. This sounds like psychobabble to me. Whaddaya say?

Interesting, Asa. I haven't heard it her way, either.

However, in nursing we often hear of "grounded theory" and "grounded theory research". The latter is research studying social phenomena from the perspective of social interactionism. Glaser and Strauss were pioneers with this research method. It is a qualitative method of research (as opposed to quantitative) and utilizes interviews and observation. The theory is derived from the research.

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Originally posted by Asa Lovejoy:
Tonight I heard someone refer to a "grounded" idea as being one agreed upon by a group, whether provable fact or fictitious. I disagreed with her usage, but thought I'd run it by you all to see what you think. She said that an ungrounded assertion was one stated by an individual instead of a group. This sounds like psychobabble to me. Whaddaya say?

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This sounds like someone coining an individual usage to make what they are saying sound more important. As far as I can see there are no logical or etymological grounds for this usage.
Even using grounded and ungrounded to mean justified and unjustified smacks of someone who doesn't know the difference between "ungrounded" and "unfounded".

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I've always thought that what something was "grounded on" was its basis of support. What reason is there to believe [whatever]? An ungrounded statement has no evidence or argument in its behalf, and is nothing but an unsupported assertion. Individual vs. group consensus has nothing to do with it.

(Of course I have no grounds to support this statement.)

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Originally posted by BobHale:
Even using grounded and ungrounded to mean justified and unjustified smacks of someone who doesn't know the difference between "ungrounded" and "unfounded".

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That is one of the definitions, according to the AHD:

v. ground.ed, ground.ing, grounds
v. tr.

2. To provide a basis for (a theory, for example); justify.

The OED seems to agree (with quotes from 1548):

grounded, ppl. a.1 SECOND EDITION 1989

1. a. Deeply or strongly founded; firmly fixed or established; resting upon a good basis. Chiefly fig. of immaterial things.

b. with advs.; esp. well-, ill-grounded.

Tinman