Identificador 2.2.1: Tiempo ajustable

of the study is an essential issue in the methodological reflection. It is necessary for a researcher to be concerned about personal reflexivity and reflexivity within relationships (Palaganas et al. 2017), as reflexivity helps to situate the research project and enhance understanding of the topic. In this study, I have four different roles. These roles played out differently in the interviews, as they significantly influenced the information offered by interviewees and their communication styles. Specifically, I am a starter researcher in academia, and I am trained to use an objective attitude and professional knowledge to undertake qualitative research. Secondly, I am the daughter of their colleague, and this role would obviously influence interviewees’ performance. Thirdly, I am an overseas PhD candidate who is studying in a developed country. Fourthly, I am a woman who has just become a mother. In this section, I will discuss how the diversity of roles affected the interviews.

As an academic researcher, I recognise that ethical informed consent is necessary for protecting participants’ privacy, and it is critical for research to have ethical considerations. Therefore, all the interviewees signed the ethical consent form before interviews. It helps to build trust between the interviewees and the researcher and adds to the credibility of the data. However, some participants saw me as a professional career counsellor who might give useful suggestions for how to solve their problems at work and in their lives. For example, there was a participant living with her husband and daughters in Shanghai, but her parents were living in another city. She said that she was working in Shanghai because of her husband’s work. She was finding it difficult taking care of her parents, and she felt a lack of support when there was a conflict with her husband. She talked about the difficulties she experienced in her work and family, and also asked me many questions about how to improve her current situation, as she looked upon me as a professional work-family life

counsellor. Some participants stated that they had no intention of seeking a counsellor when they encounter difficulties at work or at home. However, the interviews gave them an opportunity to consider their work-life balance. I believe that this is an important contribution to the research beyond the research itself. Although their questions sometimes distracted or diverted from the interview topics, the interactive process facilitated the interviewees to expose themselves in relating what difficulties and challenges they experienced in developing their medical careers. These issues were also the ones that I hoped participants could talk about in as much detail as possible. As a researcher, I was at a risk of exerting more influence upon the interviews.

My role in this study as an overseas PhD student aroused much attention from the interviewees and also their managers. I conducted interviews for the purpose of data collection for my PhD thesis; however, some participants believed that my research could play a significant role in improving their work situation. It was quite interesting that I had not thought about this before the interviews. These interviewees told me that many previous studies, the Chinese government, and social media focus more on patient benefits and less on the medical professionals’ working situation. They hoped that my research could make both Chinese people and people in other countries understand the working situation of Chinese doctors and the many difficulties they experienced during their medical careers. Thus, some interviewees showed a strong desire to participate. Their thoughts and behaviour offered me the opportunity to understand their medical careers in more depth and enabled me to notice the importance of this research. However, some interviewees saw me as an overseas study consultant and asked me questions about studying abroad. Most of the interviewees were mothers; they worried about their children’s education and want to offer their children a better future.

Therefore, our conversation naturally centred on the issues of children, and then focused on the relationships between work and family. These issues were what I expected interviewees to mention.

My special role in this study is as the interviewees’ colleague’s daughter. This role brought me the benefits of using the snowball method to find interviewees, however it also influenced the interview process in potentially compromising ways. My mother is one of the interviewees, and she was also the gatekeeper of data gathering who introduced many participants. Some participants agreed to attend the interview because my mother asked them to help me with my research. As a female doctor’s daughter, I am familiar with the medical profession, so participants could easily tell their career stories without explaining medical knowledge or organizational policy in more detail; I was able to exploit some topics such as hierarchical barriers and promotion problems. It was useful to modify the interview outline. Moreover, with the experience of being a female doctor’s daughter, I knew some participants might have problems with childcare because of frequent night shifts and a heavy workload. These topics are critical for data collection. However, some participants might still care about my identity as their colleague’s daughter. As a result, some participants may be reluctant to talk about any difficulties they experienced in the medical profession or only tell part of the truth because they did not want others, especially colleagues, to know they were experiencing trouble with their careers. A useful way to dispel their doubts was to sign the ethical consent form in which the participants had been informed that their personal information would be anonymized in the thesis, and the interview data would not be shared with third-party organizations without their permission. Another way to reduce these concerns was to introduce myself to the interviewees before the interview. I wanted to introduce myself as a researcher, not as their colleague’s

daughter, although the participants knew of the relationship between my mother and I. These strategies could reduce some participants’ concerns and minimize the impact of peer relationships on the research results.

Finally, I realise that as a woman researcher interviewing female interviewees, gender is an important issue to be reflected upon. Herod (1993) argued that ‘gender relations are an important dynamic shaping the interview process which can significantly influence the sorts of data obtained’ (p. 304). The main issue in this study is how the gender of the interviewer or interviewee may shape the interview process. Mentioning gender difference here does not mean that there is gender bias in the interview; instead, the implications of gender mostly come from specifying women researchers or research topics (Golombisky 2010). I mentioned before that most of the interviews were carried out during my maternity leave. At that time, I had just become a mother, and I experienced troubles with work-family balance. I wanted to be with my son but I had to come back to the UK to finish my PhD program, leaving him with my parents-in-law. This was the first time that I had experienced conflict between work and family. I had empathy with some interviewees who had similar conflicts. Most interviewees were mothers, so they believed that I could appreciate their situation and they wanted to share their experiences with me. Some interviewees cried when we talked about their difficulties with achieving a work-family balance. I appreciate that the interviewees trust me and want to share their stories with me, and I think one of the important reasons might be because we are all women, so they could open their hearts. A female doctor remembered that she was very busy in the hospital and had no time to take care of her five-year-old son. One day, she arrived at home very late, and her son had cooked dinner for her. She was surprised, but she quickly fell into deep guilt. She felt uneasy about being busy at work while also having caring responsibilities. She

had considered becoming a housewife, but she could not give up the job because of her family’s financial situation. She asked me some questions to ascertain whether I could understand her situation and she expressed that my understanding made her feel relieved.

Although multiple analysts afford something similar to interrater reliability, it is difficult and nearly impossible for researchers to fully extract their initial subjectivities from the process (August 2011). As a qualitative researcher, I accept that the researcher is a central figure who collects, selects and interprets data, but the research is a joint product of the relationship between participants and the researcher (Golombisky 2010). In this case, the researcher is a female PhD candidate. She is trained as both a human resources specialist and qualitative researcher. Secondly, her parents are both physicians in Chinese hospitals, which means she is familiar with the Chinese medical system and understands participants’ working situations. However, this role also brings some problems in the data collection and may influence the trustworthiness of the research. Thirdly, the researcher considers herself to be a mild feminist in life and in research, so she was able to complete the research with an objective attitude, while maintaining empathy for fellow female participants.