Saying, Doing, Talking, Listening: A Mixed Methods Study of Fathers’ Involvement in Childcare and Household Work Tasks and Responsibilities

Abstract

This article examines how methodological approaches shape understandings of domestic responsibilities. Using mixed methods data from Canadian dual-earner households, we compare fathers’ individual survey responses with couple interview accounts about their childcare and housework involvement. Survey and interview data align when assessing tasks – discrete actions with defined boundaries – but diverge when evaluating responsibilities, which involve anticipating needs, managing care and organizing household life. These discrepancies also reflect how gendered and racialized expectations can influence how fathers conceptualize their contributions. We argue that couple interviews reveal relational dimensions of domestic responsibilities that survey data alone cannot capture. This study advances feminist and family sociology by theorizing household labour not only as a set of measurable actions but as socially situated and cognitively distributed practices. Methodological pluralism, we contend, is essential to understanding the meanings and organization of care in everyday life.

Affiliated Institutions

• University of Waterloo CA
• Brock University CA

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