¶ … Romantic Relationships: It's Up and Down, All Around" by Dailey, Rossetto, Pfiester, and Surra (2009). Overall, the study was considered to be of good quality, with appropriate application of qualitative theory and methods. Criticism of the conceptual framework included a reductionist approach to theoretical models, and a lack of any discussion of an audit trail. Purpose / Significance of the Study

The researchers have clearly stated the purpose of the study, how it relates to the literature, and what phenomenon will be explored. The research questions fundamentally express the puzzle that the researchers wish to explore and provide a preliminary look at what they hope to glean from the study.

The corpus of research on dating relationships is substantial; however, the variant of couple relationships characterised by the occurrence of breakups and renewals, and the concomitant dynamics and bases of relational stability, has not received much empirical attention. The study extends the interdependence theory (Thibaut & Kelley 1959) and social exchange (Breier & Kelley 1979) by providing opportunity to explore the reasons for changes in couple stability and commitment. The researchers chose not to explicitly refer to the social exchange theory as a component of their conceptual framework, however, they do appropriately refer to the social exchange theory, inasmuch as it has its roots in sociological research and elements of the theory are seen in the literature. In addition, the study applied components of the theoretical framework to an exploration of the renewal phenomenon.

Ryan, Coughlan & Cronin (2007: 738), suggest that qualitative researchers consider truth to be "a subjective reality that is experienced differently by each individual" and that it cannot "be isolated into multiple variables that can be studied independently." The use of a qualitative approach in this study is justified by the desire to explore on-off relationships from the subjective viewpoint rather than from an objective, preconceived research structure. Couple relationships are individually interpreted by both people in the relationship, and as the researches explain, the "stories" relayed by individuals in couple relationships may differ substantively. The individual data collected from couple pairs may not be at all unified and, as such, has the potential to provide a richer context than data derived from a consolidation of the individual accounts. The quality of qualitative data is commonly measured against the methodological outcomes characterized by "thick, rich" data (Glaser). Orbuch (1997: 460) argues that accounts are useful for explaining "the nature and dynamics of a present relationship and pre-existing normative beliefs and rules about what makes a relationship and how to behave appropriately in that relationship." The use of accounts provides an opportunity to deeply explore the sense-making of partners with regard to relational reconciliation, which is an important aspect of on-off relationships.

B. Literature Review

The review of the literature covers research across a number of disciplines and focuses on the constructs most relevant to the research questions, including interdependence theory, social exchange theory, relational transitions in on-again / off-again relationships, and relational dissolution. The research discussed in the literature review is both comprehensive and balanced, and is appropriately used to identify conceptual models, theoretical frameworks, and relevant themes as background to the focus of the current research. The literature review in this study addresses the dominant emerging themes of relational research, and particularly those themes that address participants' perceptions about status changes in relationships. The literature review in this study is presented before the data collection, to support and to inform the conceptual framework. Ryan, Coughlan, and Cronin (2007: 738) point out that the "function of a literature review in research studies is to provide an objective account...that should reflect prominent emerging themes and inform the conceptual framework of the study." A substantive omission, from this writers' perspective is the work of the Gottman Institute, where the focus is on the predictable long-term outcomes of observed transactions between married couples. The Gottman Institute carries out longitudinal studies on engaged or married couples to identify behaviors that are predictive of dissolution. Even though the current research focus is on unmarried and childless couples, Gottman's research is relevant (Gottman, 1993). This omission might signal concern about reflexivity issues triggered by focusing on a primary theoretical framework prior to data collection. As stated above, it is typical for researchers to use the literature review to link the research topic, questions, and methodology to a particular approach; the researchers have appropriately done so.

C. Research Question, Philosophical Approach, and Statement of the Phenomenon of Interest

The phenomenon to be studied and the unit of analysis -- the perceptions of individuals in on-off relationships that result in breakups and renewals (the turning points, as it were) -- are clearly identified and explained against the theoretical framework. With the emphasis on interviews and participants' accounts, the underlying research philosophy appears to be interpretive. A pivotal aspect of the current research is the desirability of verstehen (Martin, 2000) -- gaining insight into the subject's internal experience by the meaning that is attributed to it by the subject. This philosophical approach is not interpretive. The researchers chose to supplement objective assessment with the subjective interpretations of the individuals in the couple relationships. It is worth noting that this philosophical orientation is a good fit to the researchers' human psychology / mental health origins.
D. Theoretical Framework

The study is framed in the interdependence theory (Thibaut & Kelley 1959) which is relevant to exploration of on-off relationships. Prior research has found that relationship stability can be predicted by aspects of the independence theory. Specifically, interdependence theory offers a framework for examining the dynamics of couple relationships in which the inherent rewards and costs of staying together or breaking up are weighed over time. The main themes and concepts of the theoretical framework are clearly explained and links to the current study are well established. Ryan, Coughlan, and Cronin suggest that "the researcher should also justify the use of a qualitative approach" (2007: 739), and this has been accomplished by the researchers by inference from the literature review. The fit between the research questions and the theoretical framework does appear to be strong.

E. Methodology: Research Design

The research design incorporates approaches most commonly associated with an interpretive world view; however, the researchers' treatment of any discussion regarding world view or research philosophy is weak. The philosophy and the world view underlying this research are implied, but neither an ontological nor an epistemological discussion is truly presented. The framework for ontological research is a branch of metaphysics that studies the nature of "being." An epistemological approach to research focuses on the nature and scope of "knowledge." An interpretive world view can be likened to a paradigm, which provides a conceptual framework for seeing and making sense of the social world, and Patton (2002: 37) has referred to paradigm as a "world view." The researchers seem to consider their philosophical outlook to be "self-evident and known" (Eriksson and Kovalainen, 2008, p. 11). If the reader presumes that the conceptual framework is interpretive, then the methodology selected for the study is congruent. Further information is needed about the use of any approaches to auditing the data collection, data reduction processes, and data analysis. Although the researchers provide a basic outline of the steps taken during these processes, they do not sufficiently address issues of documentation and procedural rigor (Lincoln and Guba: 1985). A more detailed discussion of these issues is presented in the section of this paper titled Rigor.

F. Sample

A purposeful sampling strategy was used to identify and select the 462 individuals for the longitudinal study. Participants were randomly recruited from a list of published phone numbers. Participants selected for the study met the following qualifications: Never married, age 19 to 35 years, currently in a romantic relationship, and with both partners willing to participate in the study across nine months. The research with these couples followed a three phase format that focused on the likelihood of marriage and the associated ups and downs of the relationship that reflected that likelihood. An initial interview was conducted in Phase I, in which "participants constructed graphs and provided accounts detailing changes in their chances for getting married" (Daily, Rossetto, Pfiester, and Surra 2010). Seven monthly interviews were conducted in Phase 2, and one final interview was conducted in Phase 3. On the basis of interviews conducted in the longitudinal study, 43 participants who experienced on-off relationships were selected. This subset was identified through critical case sampling based on constructs about the on-off relationships that became a focal point in the longitudinal study.

A multi-step process was used in a funnel-like fashion to identify those individuals who could clearly be described as having experienced one or more breakups and one or more renewals. The sample size in this qualitative study is irrelevant as findings will not be generalised (Fossey et. al., 2002). The sampling method is appropriate to the study as it was critical to identify participants who clearly met the criteria of having on-off relationships. The…