Близост и дистанция. Методически размисли след едно теренно изследване
Closeness and Distance. Methodical reflections following a field investigation

Summary/Abstract: Interview-communication differs positively from private communication due to the distance emerging from the specific and at least basically defined, “negotiated”, research relation. Therefore the borderlines between the private and research work are not meant to be abolished. Not even and especially not if one researches “at home”. For my doctoral thesis (written in 2002, published only recently) I took 21 narrative, biographically orientated interviews with 13 female innkeepers (at the Zillertal, Tyrol, Austria). I discussed the everyday life of women in leading positions in the catering and accommodation business, and investigated how these women deal with tourism, how they live with and from this branch. As I was brought up in the Ziller-valley, during my childhood I had been confronted with tourism every day. My relation to this cultural field shaped my interest for this part of the regional daily life. Because of my origin getting in contact with interview partners was easy, and more than that it entitled me to deal with the topic. The analysis of tourism seems to be fundamentally delicate. People belonging to the tourist industry feel criticized quickly and unjustly. On the other hand, having studied something strange and living far away in Vienna I also held the position of a so called ‘marginal woman’. Only in aspects I share the habits and cultural practices of the women interviewed; there are many areas where I am alien. So fieldwork was characterized by a swinging movement between closeness and distance, sometimes quite out of control. In this article I reflect on this aspect of my research in the frame of methodology.

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