consists in a learning-by-doing process and that I had to abandon my
confidence in the positivistic ideal of the rational and distant observer who
has a full control over herself in the situation under study. Thanks
to uncomfortable situations in my various social scenes I realized that my
former scientific ideal of the neutral objective researcher created a rigid
observer role which I had to abandon. The new ability to adjust and adapt
the position of observation produced more and better knowledge of the
field. Another crucial lesson is that emotional reactions are not a threat for
the researchers. It is a mistake to think that an observer must not feel any
emotions. The challenge is to not let the emotions take the upper hand, but
to use them knowingly. Through reflection, emotions can be used to
achieve a better insight in the field one is studying (Jaspart, 2010,p. 115;
Whiteman et al., 2009).
NOTES
- In this contribution, I propose my own translation of the French-speaking
authors. - I used to wear dark civilian clothing. Sometimes I wore a bullet-proof vest
under my jacket, which most likely gave me a certain unique build.
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An Observation Situation: When the Researcher’s Scenes Interact 59