The good marriage revisited

Abstract

This research focused directly on the quality of marriage. The quality of marriage that was studied was the good marriage. Although qualitative studies of marriage are still considered a relatively new area of research, they are increasing rapidly. The participants in this study were selected randomly and asked if they would like to participate. The researcher spent a short period of time explaining the research, the participants' responsibility, as well as what could be expected. (Couples were required to have been married fifteen years or more, have at least one child together, and consider their marriage good.) The researcher then had the participants complete an essay separately that spoke as to why they believed they have a good marriage. This was asked of ten couples, of which, three were interviewed. The selection of the three couples interviewed was based on the quality of their responses to the essay. The selection was made with the guidance of the research advisor, assuring the best fit for the research. The interview was conducted in a self-report style, in which the participants provided the direction in which the interview went. There were some questions to guide the interview but the majority of the direction was left to the participants. The interviews were approximately two hours with each couple. A summary of the results is presented and a discussion of the results follows. The outcome of the interviews was compared and contrasted with the work already done in the area of quality within good marriages and contributions from the paper were highlighted. Conclusions addressed new questions raised and the value of further study on this topic.