Navigating access and interests: Dilemmas in research involving energy actors in renewable controversies

Social science research into powerful actors and organizational contexts involved with the planning and implementation of energy projects and infrastructure is important to understand how the transformation of energy systems does, or does not, take place. Anthropological methods are particularly valuable as they allow an investigation of these energy actors, their organizational cultures, and power dynamics. However, investigating energy actors is challenging as they have little incentive to participate in studies. One of the main challenges for social science research is thus gaining and maintaining access, particularly for research that involves anthropological methods, such as participant observation. Despite access being such a common challenge in this type of research, there are few publications addressing the topic in the field of social science of energy. In this article, we examine our own experiences in using anthropological methods in research on energy actors involved with (potential) wind energy controversies. The encountered dilemmas in both gaining and maintaining access revealed three factors that contributed to the emergence of these dilemmas: ascribed positionality, a multitude of contexts, and gatekeepers. Together, the dilemmas and factors present subtle ethical questions and show that we as researchers are unmistakably stakeholders in the field that we are investigating. As universal ethics conventions often fall short in helping us navigate these situational challenges, there is a need for more dialogue and exchange between researchers about the dilemmas we experience in gaining and maintaining access and how we (want to) deal with them.