Managing Work-Life Balance: A Report on Working Mothers' Experiences

This report examines the work-life balance of working mothers, focusing on the challenges they face in combining professional and family responsibilities. The study employs a mixed-method approach, incorporating both quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques. A survey questionnaire with a Likert-scale component will be distributed to working women in Waterloo and London. Qualitative data will be gathered from online journals, literature reviews, and interviews. The report outlines the proposed methodological plan, including sampling strategies, ethical considerations, and data analysis methods. It addresses ethical issues such as informed consent and data privacy. The research aims to understand the factors influencing work-life balance and the strategies working mothers use to manage their multiple roles. The report also references similar studies and discusses the implications of the findings.

HOW DO WORKING MOTHERS MANAGE TO COMBINE
PROFESSIONAL AND FAMILY LIFE?
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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction:..............................................................................................................................3
2.0 Proposed methodological plan:..................................................................................................4
3.0 Ethical considerations:...............................................................................................................6
References:......................................................................................................................................9
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1.0 Introduction:
Managing work-life balance has become a crucial parameter for the working mother as the
family and workplace impose several challenges. It has been assessed that the workplace
dynamics exert enormous pressure on the working mother as these groups have to cope up with
three full-time jobs one at the workplace, childcare at home and other household activities. Thus,
investigating the factors influencing the work-life balance of working mother has become more
significant to assess how the working mothers manage the personal and professional life (Jacob
and Furgerson, 2012, p. 8).
The present report covers a mixed method approach to answer the question “How do working
mothers manage to combine professional and family life?” This process would help to collect
and to analyze data from quantitative and qualitative sources within the study.
A set of 20 online open-ended survey questionnaires would be sent to the working or self-
employed women of the Waterloo, London city. On top of that, a “Likert-Scale” would be used
to assess the degree of agreement for the items of the questionnaire. On the other hand,
qualitative data would be sourced from online journals, past literature, previous discussion
papers and various open-ended findings.
Quantitative data, on the other hand, would be analyzed through the use of Microsoft Excel. The
responses will be converted into the percentage value and described in the graphical and tabular
manner. On the other hand, the patterns of qualitative data would be evaluated using a thematic
data analysis methodology and direct interviews as it would help in assessing the qualitative data
sets to answer the set research questions for the given study.
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2.0 Proposed methodological plan:
The survey questionnaire would help to gather close-ended feedback from the participants
through simple random sampling mechanism, which helps to provide equal opportunity to all
participants to respond to the questionnaire. A sum of 300 respondents would be selected to
answer the survey questionnaire. According to Arthur (2012, p. 416) simple random sampling
process is helpful when the population is larger and all participants are allowed to have equal
opportunity to respond. On the other hand, 30 working mothers will be called for the face-to-face
interview to analyse the underlying practices of managing work-life balance and the existing
challenges. Since the qualitative process includes descriptive opinion; it would help the
researcher getting a clear view regarding the chosen research hypothesis. Furthermore, thematic
analysis of past literature and responses would also be helpful reaching a fruitful outcome of the
study.
A similar study was also conducted by Sullivan (2014, p. 290), where the researcher collected
data from 67 respondents who are working women in the UK at varied occupational levels. The
survey questionnaire was distributed among all participants. On the other hand, the qualitative
data was gathered through a random questionnaire including the areas focusing on different
circumstances from a range of backgrounds associated to women balancing the work and
personal life and the factors associated with the failure to balance the work-life. The data
analysis was done through thematic analysis using the package ‘Nvivo’. Therefore, considering
the example, it can be stated that a face-to-face interview would enable the researcher to
assessing the underlying cause and impact on the work-life balance of working women.
For the survey questionnaire, the respondents selected were from the homogeneous population as
the study is limited to the women, who satisfied the following criteria:
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• Have full-time employment outside the home
• Married and should have children
And
• The minimum qualification is an Undergraduate.
On the other hand, for the face-to-face interview Graduated women from the UK banking sector
would be selected for the present study and the sampling process involved would be purposive
sampling. According to O'Reilly and Dogra (2017, p. 210), purposive sampling is useful when
there is a need to focus on the special characteristics of a focus group. Eventually, it would
enable the researcher to answer descriptively the research question.
The recruitment of the respondents will be done through a lengthy process. First of all, for the
quantitative data collection, 500 working mothers will be sent welcome mail stating the purpose
of research and the need for kind cooperation. Similarly, the 60 respondents will be selected and
sent a request mail to participate in the interview session to gather qualitative data and also
informed in the same manner. After getting the free consent from every respondent the
researcher would have sent the questionnaire and conducted the face-to-face interview for the
quantitative and qualitative respondents respectively. Loosveldt and Beullens (2013, p. 1428)
stated that the consent of the participants needs to be free and voluntarily. According to the
ethical norms, if the research puts pressure on the participants and the consent is received
through fraud or misinterpretation, the agreement will be declared as void Loosveldt and
Beullens (2013, p. 1428). Considering the fact, the researcher would also follow the same before
initialising the interview process.
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The quantitative study would employ statistical data analysis to capture and distribute various
components affecting the work-life balance of women. Additionally, the demographic analysis of
the respondents from the survey questionnaire would help the researcher investigating the impact
of identified predictors of work-life balance cycle from the working women. A similar statement
was proposed by Datta et al. (2017. p. 465) that while conducting quantitative data analysis; a
semi-structured interview can be set to provide optimum flexibility. Moreover, to validate the
data, all transcripts were read twice by two different authors. All qualitative interview details for
working women, nurses and care employees were recorded and transcribed. Later on, the
descriptive, correlation and regressive methods were conducted to investigate the impact of the
different variable on the work-life balance of women and the role of care homes in work-life
balances. Since the present study involves all this process, the selection of mixed method
research is considered potential enough to collect and analyse data to reach a valuable outcome
of the proposed research question/ hypothesis. In this context, it may be noted that mixed method
may be considered to be one of the most widely used and accepted methods of research design as
the method considers both the qualitative and quantitative approach for better understanding,
corroboration of data and facts and interpretation and subsequent analysis therein.
3.0 Ethical considerations:
As a part of the ethical consideration, all respondents were sent a detailed dialogue of the
purpose, overall duration, procedures involved, various alternatives and associated risks and
benefits. According to Elo et al. (2014, p. 9), none of the participants would be forced for the
process and free consent must be gathered before starting the data collection process. On the
other hand, protecting the identity of the respondents from others is a vital consideration while
conducting the research (O'Reilly and Dogra, 2017, 209). Considering the fact, the researcher
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would also protect the identity of the participants and none of the identities will be made public.
Moreover, after finishing the study, the recorded voice for the face-to-face interview would also
be deleted from the end of the researcher. In addition, for the secondary data analysis all
resources would be properly cited at the end of the researcher paper to avoid the copyright issue
and the source of information would also be authentic to avoid any discrepancy in the secondary
data analysis process (Dunn et al, 2015, p. 1300).
The key ethical parameters are to be considered while conducting the study as it employs a
sensitive discussion topic. The questions to get accurate information regarding the work-life
balance of the chosen respondents would be free from bias and none of the respondents would be
asked personal questions that might hamper the prestige. In this context, the issue arising out of
data privacy and data security should also be adhered to. Since the researcher will collect
personal data of working mothers so chosen for the purpose of given research, it becomes the
responsibility of the researcher to protect the data in line with the respondent's requirements so
that there is no breach of ethical commitment between the researcher and the respondents. On the
other hand, the question selection must be fair and synchronised with the research topic (Nicholls
et al. 2017, p. 72). Finally, the questions would be free from racial parameters and all
respondents would be equally informed about the risks and benefits of the participation in the
present study.
Based on the discussion and analysis performed in the preceding sections of the paper, it may be
construed that undertaking a research approach is a critical task as it encompasses consideration
of lots of factors which are related both the research topic as well as external environment which
the research would be conducted in (Kara, 2015). Careful consideration regarding the
development of research methodology is utmost essential for the researcher in order to succeed
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in the aforesaid research venture. It may, therefore, finally, be concluded that a well-planned and
structurally designed research methodology will significantly contribute towards the attainment
of research aims and objectives for the researcher in the most efficient manner.
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References:
Arthur, J. (2012). Research methods and methodologies in education. London: Sage
publications, pp. 1-456
Datta, J., Macdonald, G., Barlow, J., Barnes, J. and Elbourne, D. (2017). Challenges Faced by
Young Mothers with a Care History and Views of Stakeholders About the Potential for Group
Family Nurse Partnership to Support Their Needs. Children & Society, 31(6), pp.463-474.
Dunn, S., Arslanian-Engoren, C., DeKoekkoek, T., Jadack, R. and Scott, L. (2015). Secondary
Data Analysis as an Efficient and Effective Approach to Nursing Research. Western Journal of
Nursing Research, 37(10), pp.1295-1307
Elo, S., Kaariainen, M., Kanste, O., Polkki, T., Utriainen, K., and Kyngas, H. (2014).
Qualitative content analysis: A focus on trustworthiness. SAGE Open, 4(1), pp. 1-10.
Jacob, S. A., and Furgerson, S. P. (2012). Writing interview protocols and conducting
interviews: Tips for students new to the field of qualitative research. The Qualitative Report,
17(42), pp. 1-10.
Kara, H., (2015). Creative research methods in the social sciences: A practical guide. Policy
Press.
Loosveldt, G. and Beullens, K. (2013). The impact of respondents and interviewers on interview
speed in face-to-face interviews. Social Science Research, 42(6), pp.1422-1430.
Nicholls, S., Brehaut, J. and Saginur, R. (2012). Social science and ethics review: A question of
practice, not principle. Research Ethics, 8(2), pp.71-78.
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O'Reilly, M. and Dogra, N. (2017). Interviewing children and young people for research. Los
Angeles: SAGE, pp. 205-219
Shakil Ahmad, M., Fakhr, Z. and Ahmed, J. (2011) Working women work‐life conflict. Business
Strategy Series, 12(6), pp.289-302
Sullivan, C. (2014). ‘Bad Mum Guilt’: the representation of ‘work-life balance’ in UK women’s
magazines. Community, Work & Family, 18(3), pp.284-298
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