Choice of method

This research project took a qualitative approach. It emphasised the content of conversations and their hermeneutic analysis. This meant that the focus of attention was on the analysis of connected chunks of speech in the form of verbatim interview transcripts that were scrutinised for the presence of recurring themes and issues. Miles and Huberman (1994) have provided a list of what they see as the most important features of qualitative data. It includes features that influenced our decision to use qualitative methodology rather than postal questionnaires or interviews that might have sought answers to specific questions about grandparenting in divorced families. The most significant feature is what Miles and Huberman (1994, p 10) describe as “the inherent flexibility of qualitative data and their capacity to be varied as the study proceeds”. This was important because our study set out with few specific questions in mind. It was planned as a piece of exploratory research and aimed to apply a Grounded Theory approach (see Chapter One) by checking whether predictions generated within the data were confirmed when more interview transcripts were available for analysis. Qualitative data analysis presented itself as the most appropriate approach and the best method to achieve the study’s objectives (see Chapter One, p 4 of this book).

The families

The first group of parents that took part in the study was identified from divorce court records in six courts in South Wales and the West of England. Letters were sent to 162 parents who had divorced in 1997 and reminder letters were sent and telephone calls were made in an effort to boost the number that could be interviewed. Acceptances (see Table A1) were received from 36 parents in 34 different families and appointments were made to interview at least one parent in 29 different families. (Issues of cost, distance and a variety of other circumstances meant that some parents were not contacted.) All of these parents who had been granted a decree nisi in the first half of 1997 had participated in previous studies of divorce conducted by the university, but many had moved away and could not be contacted.