The Heroic Savior, the Jungle Guide and the Beacon Amidst a Fog of Uncertainty: Agency of Fathers in Prolonged Postdivorce Conflicts and Their Positioning of Children

Researching what we practice—The paradigm of systemic family research: Part 2

“…By founding our research on the causality pillar and thereby, by extension, assessing for the assumed interdependence of observations (i.e., a test of nonindependence in quantitative methodology; Kenny et al, 2020), we are in a position to empirically test hypotheses generated by family systems theory (Priest, 2021) relating to how systems change across time. Similarly, one could supplement quantitative tests of non-independence with indepth interviews to method triangulate (Fielding, 2012) and hence explore links between statistical associations (e.g., actor and partner effects; Kenny et al, 2020) and meaning-making from different subject positions on relational processes (e.g., self/another positioning, positioning theory; Stokkebekk, 2022;Stokkebekk et al, 2019Stokkebekk et al, , 2021Stokkebekk et al, , 2022.…”

“…Although reflexivity is mostly applied in qualitative methodology, it has also been proposed as a general research skill (Finlay, 1998) and referred to as vital in quantitative methodology (Jamieson et al, 2023). Furthermore, positional reflexivity is also referred to as an important principle in systemic practice in general (Lini & Bertrando, 2022; Stokkebekk et al, 2022). We argue that reflexivity forces researchers to come to terms not only with their choice of research problem (e.g., their various adherence biases) but also with those whom they engage in the research process.…”

“…For example, interparental conflict evokes the dyadic relationship between parents. Explicitly using the construct "interparental family conflict" could help broaden our thinking about the construct (Stokkebekk, 2022). Similarly, the "secure base" construct brings to mind the dyadic relationship between parent and child.…”

“…Often, a single approach is not sufficient and it may be necessary to use a combination of different methods at different stages of a research study in order to address different aspects of the research question (For an example of such a series of studies, the reader is referred to the author's [KJW] PhD project, which examined the processes and outcomes of patients with a history of childhood trauma who were receiving systemic CFT; Whittaker et al, 2021;Whittaker, Stänicke, et al, 2022). Hence, in multidimensional systemic research, there is a need for selfreflexivity, meaning that the researcher must be critically conscious of their own positioning and prejudices and of how these may influence the phenomenon being studied (Davies & Harré, 1990;Stokkebekk, 2022;Stokkebekk et al, 2021).…”