Couples relationships and social media
Couples relationships and social media
Start: 2020
End: -----
Main Researcher: Donato Silvia
Researchers: Pagani Ariela, Parise Miriam, Faggiano Manuel
Keyword 1: Couple Relationship
Keyword 2: New Media
Goals
The research aim is to investigate the main aspects of co-construction of interation's process between partners through the use of Social Network Services (SNS), with particular attention to the processes of communication and management of positive and negative events, and the impact that such online interactions have on the couple relationship. It is planned to administer an in-depth, semi-structured individual interview to individuals in pairs, for at least one year, aged between 18 and 40, and who make daily use of SNS. The initial choice to focus on a population with these characteristics is dictated by the desire to maximize, on a probabilistic level, the possibility that participants are on the one hand very familiar and accustomed to the use of SNS, and on the other hand that they have a stable couple relationship in which they can use SNS to interact with their partner, in order to provide meaningful insight and guide subsequent sampling. The data, collected through Theoretical sampling, will be analyzed through constant comparison analysis and recursive Theoretical coding processes, in line with a Grounded Theory Interpretative (IGT) approach, in order to identify the main characteristics of interactions between online partners, the possible connection between online and offline and produce a theoretical model descriptive of such interactions.
Methods
An initial phase of the research involved the completion of an online questionnaire by young adults having a couple relationship. To date, the methodology adopted in the study is the Constructivist Grounded Theory (CGT). The first interviews were conducted on a sample of individuals in pairs for at least 1 year, between 18 and 40 years, who use SNS on a daily basis. When saturation of these categories and efficient and effective modelling of the processes of interaction between SNS and couple relationships will be achieved, a research article on the emerged data will be prepared and a questionnaire will be created in order to confirm the emerging explanatory model through a quantitative study.
Results
The first analyses (N = 40 coming from 20 pairs) have been analysed through a process of Theoretical Coding and have allowed to identify a first mapping of the process of interface between couple and SNS. In addition, this first phase of Theoretical coding allowed to identify new categories of participants to which extend participation in the interview and to identify new constructs to be investigated during the interviews, in a perspective of Theoretical sampling.
