Researching in tabooed phenomena: A discussion of method, theory, and ethics

Abstract

The aim of this article is to discuss how to research into phenomena that no one wants to talk about: silenced and tabooed phenomena. With the outset in data culled in two research projects concerning student’s conceptualization of small group learning, the article discusses methodology, theory, and ethics in researching into silenced and tabooed phenomena of in educational settings. The article is theoretical inspired by the Israeli sociologist Evitar Zerubavel, the French philosopher Michel Foucault and the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben.