Fostering Research Workflow and Creativity Through the Extended Pause Method: Leveraging Structured Disengagement in Scientific Inquiry

This paper introduces the Extended Pause Method (EPM) as a conceptual research strategy that systematically incorporates prolonged disengagement into the scientific process. Its goal is to leverage temporal distance as an epistemically active variable, helping to overcome cognitive fixation, generate alternative hypotheses, and revise methodological intuitions. Drawing on findings from cognitive psychology, learning sciences, and creativity research—particularly regarding incubation effects, forgetting, and delayed re-engagement—the method demonstrates that repeated return to a research problem after extended pauses can foster new perspectives and deeper conceptual insights. The EPM is structured around deliberate cycles of engagement, parallel work on other projects, and structured re-entry, treating researcher subjectivity not as bias but as a productive resource. Practical examples illustrate the method’s application across research stages, from theory development and hypothesis generation to methodological design and interpretation. Finally, implications, limitations, and open questions are discussed, particularly with respect to research quality, reproducibility, and the researcher as a temporally variable cognitive agent.