Over participeren en manipuleren

Samenvatting

Ethical problems arising during fieldwork in underdeveloped societies are dealt with in terms of a clash between the representatives of different cultures and societies, and are then reduced to role conflicts of the fieldworkers and the problems of choosing between different roles. Manipulation is an essential part of the loosely-structured fragmented interview which takes its final form in stages. This method is distinguished from that of participant observation by its fragmented character. It is hypothesized that the latter method is becoming less important as research increasingly centers on problems, institutions, and categories. In the method of participant observation, manipulation also occurs and has to do with the following interrelated developments: (1) the increasing use of the loosely structured fragmented interview makes manipulation an essential tool and therefore more obvious, (2) the changing societal context in which the research is executed, and (3) the increasing doubts about a self-legitimizing science and aims and methods in anthropology and sociology. Data show that during fieldwork among industrial entrepreneurs in a small indian town informants were manipulated when the fieldworker played different roles in different situations. It is also shown that the fieldworker is manipulated by his informants in an effort to achieve their goals. It is further hypothesized that nonwestern societies offer possibilities which make data collection easier than in one's own country. An ethical code is hardly possible unless several types of research are forbidden. Modified AA.