He interviewed these women in his office, and asked them very pointed questions regarding their personal and career oriented lives. Based on these interviews, Appleton devised a three-stage father/daughter model, which includes the oasis, the conflict, and the separation stage. In the oasis stage, the daughter is in her childhood and the father in his thirties. Appleton (1981, 11) describes this as a time when daughters depend on fathers for attention and care. During the adolescent frame of development, there is marked conflict between the father and daughter, but eventually the two will learn to separate from each other. Finally, the mature stage represents a time in a woman's life when she has completely separated from her father, and is neither dependent or angry with him, rather is she introspective and at last appreciates her father's numerous gifts. He then applies the model to the different aspects of a woman's life such as sex, and career, dispelling myths regarding fatherhood along the way. For example, during the oasis stage, many fathers are often working long hours at the office, while often the mother is at home taking care of the kids. However, based on his interviews and other research, Appleton found that even though mothers are with the children for longer periods, it does not always indicate that the mother is spending time with the children. On the other hand, when the father comes home from work, he devotes all his time with the children, thus it is not the amount of time that is important, but rather the quality of the time. .
The way a father treats his daughter during the oasis period makes a huge impression on a girl. An overloving father may cause his daughter to long all her life for this time when she was the center of attention, and for these women no man is as attentive or dotting as the father (Appleton, 1981, 12). If there is no happiness between the father and daughter then a girl's femininity suffers or disappears.