This study identified factors that influenced the use of project management in higher education research projects. Using a qualitative grounded theory approach that included in-depth interviews with assistant professors, the researcher examined how these individuals were using project management processes and tools and factors that enabled, motivated, and/or inhibited the use of project management processes and tools in research projects. A total of 22 participants (12 women, 10 men) from 21 different universities across 13 states took part in the study. Participants were selected based on specific inclusion criteria. All participants were assistant professors working in colleges of education or other education-related areas at doctoral-granting universities. Participants were currently working on funded research projects or had worked on funded research projects in the past two years. Focusing on participants in a single discipline (education) enabled a meaningful grounded theory to be developed from the data and has established a method for study and comparison with other disciplines in the future.