Grounded theory was and continues to be a popular form of qualitative research. In part, the appeal of grounded theory is that it has fairly explicit and rigorous procedures for data analysis. One of the difficulties, however, is the movement from discrete bits of data to a coherent theory. A great deal of researcher judgment is involved in constructing the relationship among concepts that emerge from the data. For this reason, grounded theory can be seen as an interpretive mode of inquiry. This article lays out a rationale for this interpretivist perspective. Even though the context is genetic counseling the rationale can be adapted for grounded theory inquiries in other fields.