Słabość w badaniach terenowych, czyli o mocy bezmocnych informatorów i słabościach badaczy
Weakness of Field Studies, or on the Strength of Powerless Informants and the Weakness of Researchers

Summary/Abstract: Upon the basis of selected examples of widely comprehended field studies (from the domains of ethnology, history, oral history, and sociology) the article analyses tactics applied by informants who in relations with the researcher hold a weaker position as regards cultural capital, communication tools, and interpretation. In such situations weakness becomes a stand used for severing contact, a maximum limitation of contents relayed to the researcher, or the concealment of selected motifs and themes. By distinguishing and discussing assorted tactics: silence, desultoriness and evasion, deceit and lies, the process of drawing attention away and “cunning complaisance” the author of this article pointed to a situation in which research is used by the informant for the sake of rendering his opinion public and empowering it. Finally, he indicated that the manner of approaching the weakness of the Other unintentionally reveals also the weakness of the researcher.

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