Terapeutyczny wymiar wywiadu socjologicznego: praktyka badawcza w kontekście wyzwań etycznych

• Published in: Studia socjologiczne Vol. 252; no. 1; pp. 81 - 105
• Main Author: Łuczaj, Kamil
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Polish
• Published: Warsaw Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences 2024; Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk; Polska Akademia Nauk, Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii
• Subjects: Academic staff; Behavior change; Behavior modification; Ethical dilemmas; Ethics; Interviews; Methodological problems; Permission; Reflexivity; Research ethics; Social reality; Sociology; Therapy; Transformation; peer consultation; biographical research; research ethics; therapeutic interview
• ISSN: 0039-3371; 2545-2770
• DOI: 10.24425/sts.2024.149317

The article discusses the problems of conducting qualitative interviews in the context of their therapeutic potential and the need to prepare the research team for the fieldwork. Based on research with upwardly mobile academics (2020-2022) and a project on the biographical experience of post-transformation (2022-), in this article, I pose and answer three questions. Why do biographical interviews have the potential to morph into a therapeutic conversation? How can one prepare to conduct one? Who should give permission or recommendations for conducting such an interview? Due to the subject-matter of both projects, the interviews transformed from a typically sociological form of measuring social reality into a therapeutic or quasi-therapeutic dialogue, which met the emotional needs of the interviewees and enabled them to change their behavior (e.g., through increased self-reflexivity).