To be involved in inquiring
In this work based on the study of a group fighting for the right to education for the undocumented children in Montreal, the place of the investigator on an activist field and the problems induced by his double status of observer and participant, classic in ethnography and decisive in social movements study, will be discussed. First, constraints resulting in an open participative observation type of investigation will be described, in particular the investigation policy of the investigated, demanding the investigator participation. Then, we will show how the investigator leaving the non-perturbation epistemology accesses otherwise hidden data. In parallel, we will discuss the question of the investigator’s investment limits. Finally, we will propose solutions to two dilemmas encountered along this in situ study : the respect of the ethics committees’ rules, and the phenomenon of the investigator getting « caught up in a clique ».