Wywiady biograficzne z osobami ze środowisk wykluczenia społecznego – refleksja nad wybranymi problemami metodologicznymi i etycznymi
Biographical Interviews with Narrators Endangered by Social Exclusion – Some Thoughts on Ethical and Methodological Issues

Summary/Abstract: The paper treats methodological and ethical problems the scientists possibly face in biographical research with the participation of the persons from the collectivities endangered by marginalization. The author reflects in the text on her own experiences related to the projects on poverty and social exclusion, claiming that the open discussion on social research methodology and ethics contributes both to procedures development and to the sense of comfort of research participants and researchers. As for the methodological problems, the following issues are pondered: the sampling construction, including personal data protection, the role of the gatekeepers and troubles with narrators accessibility, problems resulting from structural inequalities between a researcher and a research participant, as well as researchers’ interpersonal skills and their methodological competences. The ethical problems such as informed consent, researchers’ intervention in narrators’ life and individual and institutional social actors’ expectations are discussed in the second part of the text. In the final remarks, the author considers the possibility of implementing of supervision for the researchers conducting narrative and biographical interviews.

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