<\/span><\/h4>\nTopic: The lived experience of returning to work after a first period of parental leave<\/em><\/p>\nBefore beginning data collection, I want to set out my own assumptions, experiences, and expectations about this phenomenon so that I can recognize their influence during interviews and analysis.<\/p>\n
\n- Personal connection to the topic.<\/strong> I returned to work after parental leave two years ago, and I remember it as a stressful, disorienting transition. I expect participants to describe some degree of difficulty, and I need to stay alert to the possibility that I will listen for confirmation of my own experience rather than hearing what is genuinely distinct in theirs.<\/li>\n
- Professional background.<\/strong> I work in organizational psychology and have read literature suggesting that return to work transitions are shaped by manager support and workplace flexibility. I am aware that this prior reading could lead me to ask leading questions about support and flexibility instead of letting participants introduce these themes themselves, if relevant.<\/li>\n
- Assumptions I am bringing in.<\/strong> I currently assume that the experience involves some tension between professional identity and caregiving identity, and that this tension is generally experienced as difficult rather than positive. I will treat this as a hypothesis to be tested against the data, not as something I already know to be true.<\/li>\n
- Emotional reactions to anticipate.<\/strong> Given my own history, I may feel a pull to empathize strongly with participants who describe guilt or exhaustion, which could lead me to under explore accounts that are more neutral or positive. I will watch for this tendency, particularly when a participant’s account differs sharply from my own.<\/li>\n
- Steps I will take to manage these influences.<\/strong> I will use open, descriptive interview questions rather than questions framed around identity or support. I will revisit this statement after each interview and note in a separate memo whether I noticed myself making assumptions during the conversation. I will discuss early transcripts with a peer debriefer who has not personally experienced this transition, to check whether my coding reflects the data or my own expectations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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