Fieldwork with Vulnerable Young People
The chapter communicates the journey undertaken by a researcher using interpretative phenomenological analysis in a study with young people who bully. Focussing upon reflexive practice and research, the chapter offers insight into how a dual identity of counsellor/researcher affects the research process and the relationship with data and participants. Drawing upon a broad experience base as a counsellor, the author explores how the unpredictable nature of vulnerable and marginalised participants introduces volatile emotions to the research field that necessitate advanced awareness and reflexive skills on the researcher’s behalf to manage. The chapter concludes by offering learning points as to the emotional risks when engaging in reflective research with vulnerable participants for postgraduate resarchers and academic supervisors.
Summary. This paper presents some results of a case study about the characteristics of the interactions between pupils in groupworks, in the context of an innovative teaching experience of Physics at university level. Videorecordings were carried ou t during classes of the unit on Thermodynamics and some pupils from a focal group were interviewed. Analysis focused on group processes from the linguistic, social and cognitive perspectives. Results suggest that sharing cognitive processes by a group o f student, through reasoning and argumentation, may be an answer to the challenges of teaching practice at university level.