The article focuses on the concerns of Czech expectant parents and their subsequent life difficulties. A qualitative longitudinal methodology was used to study parental experiences for a period of around four years. Three waves of semi-structured interviews were conducted with sixteen dual-earner parental couples who had their first child in 2011 or 2012. An analysis of 93 interviews revealed that the fears of the parents-to-be principally concerned childcare, paid work, free time, the relationships, and health. Actual experience of difficulties in these areas was often mentioned by different respondents from those who had expected to have them. The theory of intensive motherhood was employed to underscore the heavy demands and responsibilities placed on contemporary parents and the difficulties that accompany the use of a child-centred approach. The heavy demands on childcare felt by mothers who adhered to the intensive mothering model were cited as causing difficulties in the everyday lives of parental couples; the fathers mainly complained of a lack of rest and quality time with their partners.
The aim of the article is to quantify how often in leading Czech social-science journals (Československá psychologie / Czechoslovak Psychology, Pedagogika/Pedagogy, and Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review) authors choose the wrong procedures to analyse quantitative data. In particular, attention is focused on the incorrect choice of statistical tests, their misinterpretation and mechanical application, and the use of effect sizes, that are so highly recommended nowadays. The basic research period was ten years, from 2005 to 2014, and for the Czech Sociological Review the period was extended back to 1995. The results of the content analysis of published articles (N=363) show that statistical tests are applied quite often to data that are not suitable for statistical tests: this is found in about one-fifth of cases in Czech Sociological Review, one-half in Pedagogy, and more than three-quarters in Czechoslovak Psychology. In addition, authors often make mechanical use of statistical methods or make incorrect interpretations (in over 40% of articles in the Czech Sociological Review over the last 10 years) and there are rarely any substantive interpretations of results (especially in Czechoslovak Psychology). Effect sizes are applied relatively often, but there are also gaps in their usage. It is clear from the results that changes are necessary both in the teaching of quantitative methodology and publishing practices in this subject area.