Authors: Anthony Arcuri and Doris McIlwain

Working with data

In working with our data, we followed closely the Grounded Theory coding procedures defined by Strauss and Corbin (1998). Their particular approach to Grounded Theory appealed to us because of its clearly articulated and easy-to-follow guidelines, and its inclusion of a paradigm within which to organise our data (which will be discussed later in greater detail). We decided to implement Strauss and Corbin's (1998) suggested procedures by hand, rather than with the assistance of computer software, primarily because we shared their debatable view that our use of such software would interfere with our organic analysis of the data.

Instead of analysing our data once it had been collected in its entirety, we examined each interview following its completion, ahead of conducting the next interview. To enhance the reliability and reflexivity of our data analysis, we the researchers coded the data independently of each other in the following way. Anthony coded each interview in extreme detail using Strauss and Corbin's (1998) suggested techniques described later in this section. After Doris had read each transcript until she had reached a point of 'immersion' in the data - where she was aware of when and where each comment made by the participant had occurred in the interview - we came together to review Anthony's specific coding decisions. Doris raised questions about the occasional comment that Anthony might not have seen in a particular light, and about the ways in which he had made theoretical links within and across interviews. We then ensured that the way Anthony had coded the particular comment or hypothesis captured the different perspective Doris had brought to it.

Following his reading of the transcript several times to familiarise himself with the data, Anthony's first explicit data analytic procedure involved identifying concepts via 'open coding'. Here, he used the rightmost column of the transcript file (which we introduced in the previous section) to highlight key words and phrases within the participant's narrative that appeared to represent new or developing concepts. In labelling concepts, Anthony borrowed our participants' words, wherever possible, but occasionally developed his own paraphrases or drew from existing constructs. During open coding of the early interviews, Anthony scrutinised the data on a phrase-by-phrase or even word-by-word basis. As he became familiar with the emerging concepts through the analysis of several interviews, he tended toward coding whole sentences or even paragraphs.

For each concept identified (see Table 2 for an abbreviated list), Anthony created or added to a series of memos in which he explored the potential meanings of the concept in question and attempted to delineate its properties (or characteristics) and dimensions (the range along which these properties vary). Gaps he found in properties and dimensions indicated the areas remaining to be explored with future participants (whom we would select via theoretical sampling, as described in the previous section). To illustrate open coding with an example, during his analysis Anthony identified the concept, 'intensity of the sexual attraction', which ranged in dimension from low to high, where lower intensity sexual attractions tended to be characterised by enjoyment of the desire, and higher intensity sexual attractions typically involved feelings of anxiety and guilt about the desire.

Once Anthony began to notice relationships among concepts (as early as during coding of the first interview), he incorporated 'axial coding' into the analysis strategy. In doing so, he started to link concepts at the level of their properties and dimensions, and identify sub-concepts - those that are subsumed by, and become properties of, higher order concepts (e.g., the concept 'theoretical orientation' became a sub-concept and thus a property of 'psychotherapist characteristics'). To assist Anthony with this intimidating task, he employed an adapted version of Strauss and Corbin's (1998) 'paradigm', which provided a logical method of gathering and ordering concepts. Our adaptation of this paradigm retained the original three components into which concepts are arranged: (1) 'conditions', the sets of events or circumstances that create situations relating to a phenomenon; (2) 'actions/interactions', the ways in which persons handle the situations encountered; and (3) 'consequences', the results of actions/interactions. Because of the 'hypothetical' focus of our study, we added to the paradigm: (4) 'decisions regarding actions/interactions'; and (5) 'expected consequences'.

Using this paradigm as a base, Anthony created memos in which he made relational statements or 'provisional hypotheses' about the phenomenon we were investigating. In these provisional hypotheses, Anthony made direct references to the concepts identified through open coding, and specified the relationships among the properties and/or dimensions of these concepts. For example, relatively early in our data analysis, Anthony developed the following provisional hypothesis (concepts are highlighted in bold, their properties [where included] are underlined, and their dimensions are italicised): "when psychotherapists deem their sexual attraction unmanageable (for example, when it is highly intense and thus characterised by pre-occupation with the client and/or by feelings of anxiety and guilt), they are likely to decide to discontinue psychotherapy with the client, because they expect that continuing psychotherapy in such a situation would lead to negative consequences (such as their inability to remain objective about the client's issues)." Here, the 'conditions' (highly intense, unmanageable sexual attraction) create the context for a 'decision regarding actions/interactions' (discontinuing psychotherapy), which is made with the intention of avoiding 'expected consequences' (compromised objectivity about the client's issues).

We validated and further elaborated our concepts and provisional hypotheses through our continuing analysis of incoming data, which we collected via theoretical sampling. When we noticed that no new concepts or relationships among concepts seemed to emerge during coding (i.e., the point at which 'theoretical saturation' occurred), we stopped collecting data (as discussed in the previous section in the context of theoretical sampling). We acknowledged, however, that we could not possibly reach theoretical saturation for concepts that represented our participants' 'actual' experiences, as we were not permitted ethically to inquire into such experiences. These concepts and their relationships, therefore, remained provisional, but were adequately robust to be integrated into our final theory.

Table 2
Abbreviated list of concepts identified

Concepts relating to the development of sexual attraction to a client

The client’s characteristics and behaviours

The process of the therapeutic relationship

The psychotherapist’s characteristics

The psychotherapist’s characteristics (as influencers of the handling of the sexual attraction, as identified by the participants)

Combined personal and professional identities (e.g., values, morals, ethics, boundaries, beliefs)

Maturational characteristics

Experience as a psychotherapist

Age

Life experiences

Psychotherapy training history

Theoretical orientation

Relationship status

Gender

Religion

Psychotherapist’s appraisals (as part of the process of handling the sexual attraction)

Intensity of the sexual attraction

The degree to which the sexual attraction interferes with psychotherapy

Mutuality of the sexual attraction

The client’s characteristics

Timing of the sexual attraction

Reasons for the sexual attraction

Perceived manageability of the sexual attraction

Awareness of options for handling the sexual attraction

Management of the sexual attraction

Psychic management

Behavioural management

Therapeutic use of the sexual attraction

Understanding the client and the therapeutic relationship

Self-disclosure of the sexual attraction

Guidance seeking

Privileging the sexual attraction

Discontinuation of therapy

Assessment of the consequences and ethicality of options for handling the sexual attraction

Decisions regarding the handling of the sexual attraction

Implementation of the chosen action

Consequences of the implemented action

Cessation of therapy

Continued psychotherapy with incompletely or unsuccessfully managed sexual attraction

Continued psychotherapy with managed sexual attraction

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