Personal Relationship Studies

The Post-Positivist Lens

Post-positivist work in this area focuses on questions regarding patterns of communication in relationships, asking about the characteristics, predictors, or consequences of communication. In this type of research, communication can be an independent, moderating, mediating, or dependent variable in the research design. Post-positivist research seeks to identify the ways in which groups systematically differ in terms of a dependent variable (e.g., do dissatisfied couples engage in fewer perspective-taking behaviors during conflict than satisfied couples?) and/or how variables are systematically related to one another (e.g., does concern about independence predict topic avoidance for older adults in interactions with adult children?).

Relationship research in this tradition employs a number of different methodologies, including survey and observational coding or rating. These methodologies reflect a choice in perspective—participant or observer—for understanding communication in personal relationships. A participant perspective focuses on the experiences and meanings of the relationship participants, with individuals in the relationship as the data source (e.g., individuals’ perceptions of their partners’ dominance in an interaction). An observer perspective, on the contrary, offers an outsider view of relational processes (e.g., having a third party assess the dominance behaviors that occurred during a conversation or offer a general judgment of dominance).

Survey research elicits self-report data, capturing participants’ perspectives regarding relational experiences. Participants’ perspectives can be useful for investigating concepts that otherwise would be inaccessible (e.g., thoughts, feelings) and asking about communication events that happen infrequently, happened in the past, or that would be difficult to observe in either a naturalistic or lab setting. It is also valuable for understanding how participants make sense of their relationships. At the same time, however, participants’ self-reports may be biased by a desire to be viewed positively. Survey research can include a variety of different question types, including open-ended questions that must be coded and close-ended questions (e.g., Likert-type scales).

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