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Paper short abstract

Sometimes, when researching the situation of young people on the move, conducting interviews is not possible—for example, for ethical reasons—or is very difficult. In my presentation, I would like to consider alternative methods of conducting such research - rooted primarily in materiality.

Paper long abstract

Sometimes, when researching the situation of young people on the move, conducting interviews is not possible—for example, for ethical reasons—or is very difficult if the people in question remain on the move. For the purposes of this presentation, I am using the term “young people on the move” because I would like to focus on the situation of people who have not completed their migration path and for whom Poland is only a temporary stop. In my presentation, I would like to consider alternative methods of conducting such research, rooted primarily in materiality, e.g., documentation collected by institutions or traces and objects left behind. At the same time, the challenge in such research is to respect the privacy of individuals who are not directly involved in the research, for example, when analyzing personal history documented in the case files. The starting point for my presentation will be the failure of the original idea behind my doctoral thesis—to include foreign teenagers without parental care residing in Poland in participatory research modeled on that conducted, for example, in the British context. Due to legal barriers , logistical barriers, but above all ethical barriers, this plan was unsuccessful. For the purposes of this presentation, this will serve as a pretext for me to reflect on alternative methodologies for studying the situation of young people on the move—when conducting research directly or participatively is impossible or could expose those participating in the study to negative consequences.