Earning More and Getting Less

Appendix C. Strategies for Data Analysis

203 Appendix C. Strategies for Data Analysis I conducted, taped, and transcribed all the interviews. I used a constant comparative method (Glaser and Strauss 1967) and analytic induction as tools for analysis. I first coded the interviews using rough descriptive codes derived from the basic interview questions, as well as from the issues that emerged during the interviews. Initially, I made comparisons between spouses to look for discrepancies in perceptions and reports of behavior. I then coded the interviews by pattern or theme, as part of the movement from data description to conceptual clarification and theorizing . Here, I compared wives and husbands as groups.Also at this stage, I compared couples with higher-earning wives and comparison couples. I then matched husbands and wives again,in an effort to explain why some couples seemed to fit the pattern or theme under examination and others did not. Throughout the book, then, I make comparisons on various levels. When I am concerned with issues of equity within relationships, I compare higher-earning wives and comparison wives with their respective husbands. When I am interested in the effects of income advantage, I compare couples with higher-earning wives to comparison couples.And finally, I present variations in thinking and behavior among couples with higher-earning wives—all in an effort to tease out the relative effects of gender, income, and status on the balance of power in these marriages. ...