Utilizing Data from Multiple Family Members: A Within-Family Approach

Abstract

The issue of unit of analysis has been a critical one in the study of the family for a number of years. The recognition that responses and perspectives of husbands and wives are not always the same (Bernard, 1972; Safilios-Rothschild, 1969) has had a serious impact on family methodology. Many researchers began to deal with the task of gathering data from both husbands and wives, then attempting to integrate these reports into some assessment of the marital relationship. The issue became even more problematic when a family assessment was sought--that is, when data from more than two family members were collected. While a number of means for representing such relationships have been suggested (see, e.g., Fisher, Kokes, Ransom, Phillips, & Rudd, 1985; Klein, 1982; Olson, McCubbin, Barnes, Larsen, Muxen, & Wilson, 1983; Thompson & Walker, 1982; White & Brinkerhoff, 1977), they generally fall into two groups that reflect an underlying belief either in the convergence of family members' reports or in their divergence. Proponents of a divergence perspective propose that the reality of the family may be found in the disparate, or nonoverlapping, reports of its members. This perspective is perhaps best in Larson and Olson's 1990) citation of the parable of the six wise men of Indostan who, although blind, set out to see the elephant (p. 18) Having arrived at the elephant, each encounters a different part--one a leg, one the trunk, another a side--and each believes that he has seen the reality of the elephant. The point is that each has only a portion of the elephant; the reality of the is revealed only when the separate perceptions of each are combine. When this view is applied to the family, the argument is made that each family member can only see a portion of the beast that is the family; only in combining the unique perceptions of family members does the reality of the family emerge. Proponents of a convergence perspective take the opposite approach, namely that the reality of the family lies in what its members hold in common. Researchers with this orientation often invoke the sociology of knowledge perspective that knowledge and reality are that which are held in common in society (Berger & Luckman, 1967). This perspective runs through the work of Berger and Kellner (1964), who argue that the process of marriage changes the individual realities of husband and wife, resulting in a joint reality that is held in common by the pair. Similarly, this perspective is in the work of Minuchin and Fishman (1981), who emphasize the need for husband and wife to produce a common value system out of the individual value systems that each brings to the relationship. Finally, this perspective has been applied to the family by Reiss (1974), who grouped families according to the view that each had of their external environment, a view that was found to be held in common by all family members. METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES USED As mentioned previously, a multitude of methodological techniques have been used to integrate data collected from multiple family members. The reviews cited above attest to this, as well as to the great amount of dissatisfaction attached to many, if not most, of these methods. Another method has been advanced as a possible means for dealing with this multiple informant problem, a method that has the ability to address both divergent and convergent perceptions. Beginning in the late 1970s and early 1980s, structural equation modeling began to become prominent in the family literature. Initially using the LISREL program, researchers were able to go beyond regression-based path analysis to study both measurement and structural models. The simultaneous estimation of these parameters increased the ability of researchers to formulate quasi-causal structures, as well as to explore in more detail the impact of measurement error on substantive findings. …