Identification of Climate Change Impacts in Guilan Province Using a Grounded Theory Approach

initial step to adaptation. The present study, therefore, aims to identify the regional effects of climate change using qualitative paradigm and grounded theory in Guilan Province. Focus groups and in-depth interviews techniques were used to gather data. Statistical population of the research contained specialists and experts of the relevant fields selected using snowball sampling. Through interviewing 12 experts across Guilan Province, theoretical saturation was achieved. The results show that the regional impacts of climate change in Guilan Province can be classified into seven categories including: Climate variables, climate hazards, agriculture, groundwater and surface water, diseases, environmental and socio-economic impacts.