The fieldwork in a search with black exe- cutives: some considerations

Abstract

This article presents reflections on
the development of fieldwork in a research on
black people who experienced social ascension
in Public Administration, pointing limits, pos-
sibilities and singularities observed in the con-
frontation between researcher and subject when
in a situation of similar socio-racial conditions.
The testimonies were collected between 2005
and 2006, with 20 black professionals. Like
the researcher, all of them were considered as
“public authorities” in Salvador - Bahia (Bra-
zil). The author notes that, regardless of how
the fieldwork was planned, situations that could
never appear in any manual tend to emerge. To
obtain testimonies requires that the researcher
shows respect and interest for his informants,
that he listens, learns and, above all, that he
exercises common sense in order to identify the
most profitable dynamics to preserve the infor-
mants’ integrity and to meet the objectives of
the research.