Udsatte stemmer i institutionel forskning på det sociale og socialpædagogiske område - metodiske og etiske refleksioner

This article sheds light on the methodological challenges and ethical dilemmas we as researchers faced in our research achievement to give voice to vulnerable target groups who live in marginalized positions and consequently rarely participate in democratic processes. Based on our research practice with offenders with intellectual disabilities and vulnerable users in drop-in centres, we demonstrate how we methodologically have reached these “hard to reach” groups. We illustrate the challenges and dilemmas we faced in accessing the group through a ‘gatekeeper’. And from the standpoint of interactionism, we analyze how their vulnerability and the institutional context surrounding them impacted our way of interviewing them. We discuss the ethical dilemmas that arose in our practice and how we navigated with these concerning the ethical research guidelines. Hence, the article contributes with varied considerations regarding the interviewees’ exposed position and sensitive life situation as well as reflection tools for researchers and students to consider when or if they involve vulnerable voices in research. Tools that is important as a basis to ensure the involvement of the voices of the vulnerable in the democratic qualification of the social and social pedagogical work.