Gordon Stables qualified in medicine and adapted his expertise to produce do-it-yourself dog healthcare manuals for elite and popular readerships. At the same time, he was a prolific author, writing hundreds of boys’ and girls’ adventure novels and animal-narrated stories. These publications contributed to his public support for canine welfare, though privately he did not spare the rod with his own pets. There was almost no subject on which he would not take up his pen. He was a proud Scot, often seen in full Highland dress, and curling was his favourite sport. In the twenty-first century, Stables has been recognised as the inventor of the touring caravan, an achievement celebrated in 2005 on the centenary of the Caravan Club.

In today’s climate, researchers may feel pressured to always adopt the most complex, cutting-edge research techniques. Although such techniques have advantages, they also have disadvantages. In this chapter, we walk the reader through each stage of the research process: developing research questions and hypotheses, recruiting participants, selecting a study methodology and associated statistics, and disseminating results. At each stage, we compare the relative strengths and weaknesses of what we call “Column A” approaches (i.e., relatively simple, tried-and-true research techniques) versus “Column B” approaches (i.e., newer and more complex techniques). We argue that the best overall solution, both for individual researchers and for the field as a whole, is to adopt a diverse mix of different techniques. Throughout, we consider how open science techniques might potentially aid in achieving a healthy balance between different approaches. We also suggest mechanisms whereby often-expensive Column B approaches could be made more widely accessible.

Relationship science has grown tremendously in the four-plus decades since its inauguration as a distinct social science discipline. Much has been accomplished. A deep, conceptually rich literature has begun to take shape; the field’s methodological toolbox has evolved to the point where specialized tools for studying relationships are well-known and accessible; and the importance of relationships for human health and well-being is firmly established. At the same time, further advances in knowledge and impact will require surmounting several headwinds. We outline these challenges, focusing on four general themes: the need for more cumulative, better integrated core organizing principles; fuller appreciation of the role of context and diverse relationship structures; continuing development of the field’s research methods; and the need to more effectively disseminate its findings into interventions and the public sphere. In our view, the field’s future influence will depend on its ability to meet and capitalize on these challenges.

Relationship satisfaction has major implications on individuals’ health and subjective well-being, and prominent theories in relationship research have assigned relationship satisfaction an important role. In this Handbook chapter, we first introduce conceptual perspectives on relationship satisfaction, showing that relationship satisfaction is a characteristic of both the individual and the relationship. We then provide an overview of the measurement of relationship satisfaction and discuss common affordances in its assessment. Next, we report empirical evidence on how relationship satisfaction evolves over time, showing that relationship satisfaction changes both normatively and depending on the eventual outcome of the relationship. We then report how relationship satisfaction is associated with different relationship-specific facets, such as perceptions, emotion regulations strategies, and communication styles. To conclude, we discuss a series of unresolved issues in the area of relationship satisfaction research and propose an agenda for future research, such as the usage of modern technologies.

Edwin Landseer was the most famous painter of the Victorian era and dogs were his forte. His paintings were admired for revealing dogs’ human-like feelings, emotions and even thoughts. Such depictions reflected and helped shift attitudes towards dogs. The Queen was a patron and commissioned many portraits of her pets from him. He had friends in the underclass of dog stealers and dealers, from whom he acquired many of his models. Engravings of his paintings circulated widely as prints, making ‘a Landseer’ a common sight in parlours across the country. Landseer was sympathetic to campaigns against cruelty to animals, although never an activist.

In the present chapter, the authors offer a social exchange theory analysis of processes within intraracial versus interracial relationships. After commenting upon “the rise in intermarriage” (particularly within the United States during the past 50 years), the authors draw upon Levinger’s (1980) Acquaintance-Buildup-Continuation-Deterioration-Ending (ABCDE) model regarding stages of relationship development, highlighting several quantitative studies that examine social exchange processes at each transition or turning point between stages of intraracial and (especially) interracial relationships. Furthermore, the authors address implications of certain interdependence processes for the stability of intraracial and interracial relationships, as well as gaps in the evidence that is available concerning turning points within both types of relationships. Subsequently, the authors identify particular studies that serve as points of departure for suggestions about methodological changes and theoretical additions in future research on intraracial and interracial relationships. Finally, the authors provide examples of still-unanswered questions within the literature on interracial relationships in particular.

Francis Power Cobbe regarded dogs as her fellow sentient beings, with feelings, emotions and a consciousness. These deeply held views led her to become the leader of the British anti-vivisection movement. She argued that women had a unique relationship with dogs, which came from emotional empathy and common experiences of subordination. She was a prolific author of books, pamphlets and journal articles, and wrote for national newspapers. A strong advocate of women’s rights, she campaigned for the admission of women to universities, marriage law reform and women’s suffrage. She believed in women's autonomy but not sexual equality. For Cobbe, women were the ‘mother sex’, whose role was caring for their family or, if unmarried, other people and creatures. She wrote an essay entitled ‘How a dog thinks and feels’, in which she concluded that there were more similarities than differences in mental attributes between humans and dogs.

This chapter explores the accuracy of private transcription services when transcribing Black English and Standard American English. Courts and lawyers in the US regularly rely on transcripts from such services, but third-party verification of their accuracy, especially with respect to their quality when faced with nonstandard language varieties, is lacking. This study draws on experimental methods to contrast the quality of transcription services offered by transcribers and AI route. The quantitative results show that transcription by humans and AI resulted in more mistakes when transcribing Black English than when transcribing Standard American English. Furthermore, a qualitative analysis reveals that these mistakes often changed or obscured meaning in legally relevant ways. If these results are generalizable, many transcripts currently in circulation, and crucial both to justice at the trial level and appellate review, contain disproportionately more legally important mistakes for Black English speakers. Given that Black English speakers are a highly overrepresented population in the US criminal system, the chapter proposes ways of redressing transcription shortcomings.

In covert surveillance operations, police monitor the activities of suspected individuals to gather investigative information, which is then used by public prosecutors and judges in legal proceedings. This practice presents multiple challenges when suspects use different languages and intercept interpreters/translators (IITs) support the process of conveying intercepted communications from investigative stages to court proceedings. This chapter fills a significant knowledge gap regarding the activities, responsibilities and competences of IITs. The authors show how communication surveillance unfolds in three temporally staggered phases each involving different participants: (1) suspects’ original communication, (2) IITs’ translation in collaboration with police and (3) integration of written translations into legal documents by police, public prosecutors and judges. Communication in these phases undergoes significant shifts to extract core information crucial for judicial decision-making, while IITs remain invisible in the process. The chapter concludes with an imperative for a clearly defined delineation of roles and responsibilities for IITs within the criminal justice system.