Between ethical scruple and methodological scoundrel

Reflexions ways of doing research in relation to actors and "smuggled" from organizations

Abstract

This article is the product of a research on managerial dilemmas and the expression of dissent in organizations. Such research has been guided both by an ethical care for the interviewees and the need to “smuggle” during some phases of our fieldwork, given the sensitive aspect of our topic. More specifically, we focus on a dynamic that has underlined the tinkering of our method: the need to “scrump” some aspects of the research and the scruples it has created. First, we will show how we approached this phenomenon through an in between position (at the crossroads of the academic and the professional world) (1.). Then, we will describe how we took into account what the people we interviewed were feeling (2.). Finally, we will explain how we took advantage of the obstacles and difficulties encountered in our field work (3.). All of this will lead us to wonder to what extent these somewhat uncomfortable research methods can still be useful in understanding a “murmuring” phenomenon.