Les émotions au travail (scientifique) : enjeux éthiques et stratégies méthodologiques d’une enquête en terrain intime

Abstract

Based on a qualitative approach, the article proposes to illustrate the different stages of the elaboration of a methodological package, focusing on emotions that are actively put at work. The investigation was conducted on an intimate field, as it deals with themes such sexuality and HIV. The principal aim of the study is to understand how immigrant women of sub-Saharan origin living in Switzerland manage the secret of their HIV / AIDS positive status. Facing multiple vulnerabilities, the studied population is particularly precarious. This raises several ethical questions that are explored in the text. In particular, the emotional implications for the investigators and the impact of the research on the interviewee’s life are questioned. Reflecting on the mobilization of emotions in the process of research, one epistemological question emerges: could knowing subjects be emotional subjects and vice versa? Finally, the emotions mobilized both by the investigators and the interviewees constitute the raw material on which a situated, felt and committed methodology take place.

Keywords

• ethics
• HIV
• intimacy
• emotions
• intimate field methodology