GOING NATIVE AS A PROCESS OF BECOMING A FIELD RESEARCHER. REFLECTIONS ON THE FRINGE OF THE RESEARCH ON THE LIVING ENVIRONMENT OF THE ELDERLY

Abstract

The presented article is the result of searching for the answer to the following questions: how can one become a field researcher, what opportunities and threats does a job of field researcher create? The author puts the questions while searching for the ways of learning about the living environment of aging people and the elderly. She presents the specifics of methodology of field studies, defines the category of environment and the study area, describes the process of going native as the result of becoming a field researcher. The author, based on the experience gained during research, writes about opportunities that arise out of conducting field studies and about the process of dealing with threats connected with the necessity of making cognitive and ethical choices in the context of learning about the worlds created by the elderly.