El hombre en el centro

My ethical considerations in the field were based on the four principles identified by Diener and Crandall (1978): ensuring no harm to participants, ensuring there is informed consent, no invasion of privacy and no deception. I also considered the British Sociological Association and the University of Essex ethics codes and obtained approval before starting fieldwork.

Informed consent implies the interviewees and other participants were aware of my research agenda and have an appreciation of the facts, implications and future consequences of their participation. Consent for interviews was obtained according to the profiles of participants. Professional and elite participants gave consent in a written consent form (which I had produced before starting fieldwork). Villagers were first approached by my guide who explained my research, and if the person agreed to talk to me, I again explained my role and the purpose of my research and gave them the opportunity to decline. Initially I planned to record consent audio-visually as advocated by Benitez et al. (2002). However as highlighted in an earlier section, the use of technological devices was inappropriate.

Ensuring no deception was involved was important in my research and I had to take a pragmatic approach given the fact, that I entered the lives of most of the people I met at the hotel in my role as a worker. Tindana et al. (2006) suggest that in some contexts it can at times be inappropriate to gain informed consent from participants when they do not have a direct impact on the research. In my case it was impractical to explain to every guest my role and gain consent regardless of their position in my research. So I only gained consent of individual participants who directly contributed to my data collection. Invasion of privacy was also considered in the context of data collection in the hotel. There were obvious problems of disrupting interviews with participants whilst I had to complete tasks for my job, also the difficulty of switching between client/research participant roles.

84 Storing data and guaranteeing confidentiality were also important considerations. So I took care to store my data on a password protected memory stick, which I kept in a safe and on returning from fieldwork the data was stored in a locked cupboard at my University. The names of the villagers have been changed to protect them, however, the elite actors have not been changed. These actors gave permission to be named and anyone who is familiar with the area would be able to identify them in any case.

I have already discussed some of the challenges involved in my data collection. But it is important to note that the biggest challenge I faced during fieldwork was navigating my relationship with Robson. Robson was influential in whom I researched and there were several occasions when he did not approve of either the participant, or their views as the following entry from my fieldwork diary shows:

Robson (C2) to me about fishing guides. Pousada Itaicy 4th September 2014. ‘I do not know why you talk to these people. They do not know anything useful. If you need to know anything, just ask me I will help. These people will do nothing to improve your life, so why waste your time with them?’

This particular incident occurred when I was collecting information on the history of the villages. I tried to collect as many different histories and opinions as possible in order to obtain rich data. But Robson clearly felt that this was a waste of my time.

Reeves (2010) also acknowledges difficulties with gatekeepers in Organizational studies. In her study of a Probation hostel for sex offenders in the UK she found the manager had the ability to open and close access routes for participants as well as be involved with the research process. The manager was also able to enhance his power by controlling the researcher as well as the researched.

‘As the manager also ensured contact with me on a daily basis while the fieldwork was being undertaken, his control of the transmission of information to both higher and lower strata of organisational levels of staff meant that his power was enhanced and maintained during the fieldwork period.’ (Malloy, 1976:317)

There are some commonalities between her research and mine. In addition to the availability of petrol, and the interview with Blairo Maggi previously discussed, I had to continually negotiate over my dual roles. There were times, when collecting life stories that tensions would arise between my responsibility

85 to the participant and my duties as an employee. Life stories were particularly difficult as it often

involved participants reflecting on difficult times in their life. Scholars have discussed the issues associated with the researcher finishing an interview having collected the data they need and leaving interviewees to pick themselves up again. I tried to mitigate against this as much as I could by continuing a conversation after the formalities of interviews were over (Oliveira, 2010b), although this was

sometimes compromised by my other duty as a worker.

Dona Maria de Souza, a hotel guest, was one such example. Over the two periods of fieldwork I met her 16 times in total. She became interested in my research and I approached her to conduct formal life histories. She belonged to the ruralistas class and as a woman had a different story to those frequently documented. Unfortunately, towards the end of the my first fieldwork stay her husband died in a car accident- which immediately brought to an end our interviews and our relationship returned to that of client/hotel worker. She then approached me during the second field trip in order to finish her life story. In this circumstance, and in line with other critical management scholars who have used oral history methods I ensured Maria was able to set ‘the conditions and terms on which the interview took place’ (Śliwa, 2013: 196). Although the whole of her story was not all used in this thesis, she found recalling her life therapeutic after her recent and tragic loss, stating it was something she felt compelled to do. Switching between researcher and hotel worker was a particular dilemma in this case, as I had responsibility for her well-being but also had to attend other guests.