The Development of Online and Offline Romantic Relationships: A Turning Point Study by Sophia W. McDowell
For ease of grouping, each reported turning point was printed out onto separate slips of paper. Using Baxter and Bullis’ (1986) 14 main categories of turning points as a beginning framework, the researcher coded 10% of all the turning points from a mixture of both online and offline surveys. When turning points did not fit into the existing categories, changes were made to the Baxter and Bullis (1996) codes or additional categories were added (see Table 1). The researcher and another coder then independently coded 20% of the turning points, and reliability of the coding was assessed. The level of intercoder reached was similar to those in Baxter and Bullis (1996) and deemed adequate (Cohen, 1960, kappa = .76), therefore the primary investigator coded the remaining turning points.