Qualitative research innovations: The pluralistic exploration of a couple relationship across the transition to second-time parenthood

Location

1049

Format Type

Event

Format Type

Paper

Start Date

January 2019

End Date

January 2019

Abstract

Traditionally, adult attachment has been researched using quantitative methods, leading to the categorisation of people into attachment styles, but which obscures the potential to understand the dynamism of attachment arising from life events and other contextual influences. The application of a pluralistic qualitative analysis allows for an innovative manner in which to gain more holistic insight by viewing the complexities of adult attachment from multi-dimensional perspectives. This paper presents a longitudinal single case study which explored the attachment behaviours of a couple during their transition to second-time parenthood. It used multiple methods of data collection and then applied several methods of analyses to all data. The plurality of epistemological and ontological paradigms brought by this innovative approach highlights the complex variation of relational experience across the transition to second-time parenthood. Key findings illustrate the complexity, multiplicity and dynamism of attachment at both intra- and inter-individual levels within the couple relationship across the transition to second-time parenthood. This paper shows how the application of this innovative analytical approach challenges traditional views of attachment as fixed and brings new insight to relational experiences by considering them as fluid and dynamic processes, informed by context, subjective meaning-making and external events.

Keywords

pluralistic qualitative research, qualitative mixed methods, adult attachment, multi-dimensional

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Qualitative research innovations: The pluralistic exploration of a couple relationship across the transition to second-time parenthood

1049

Traditionally, adult attachment has been researched using quantitative methods, leading to the categorisation of people into attachment styles, but which obscures the potential to understand the dynamism of attachment arising from life events and other contextual influences. The application of a pluralistic qualitative analysis allows for an innovative manner in which to gain more holistic insight by viewing the complexities of adult attachment from multi-dimensional perspectives. This paper presents a longitudinal single case study which explored the attachment behaviours of a couple during their transition to second-time parenthood. It used multiple methods of data collection and then applied several methods of analyses to all data. The plurality of epistemological and ontological paradigms brought by this innovative approach highlights the complex variation of relational experience across the transition to second-time parenthood. Key findings illustrate the complexity, multiplicity and dynamism of attachment at both intra- and inter-individual levels within the couple relationship across the transition to second-time parenthood. This paper shows how the application of this innovative analytical approach challenges traditional views of attachment as fixed and brings new insight to relational experiences by considering them as fluid and dynamic processes, informed by context, subjective meaning-making and external events.