ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the methodological framework of the book in terms of how to explore students’ psychosocial problems in Danish higher education. The chapter argues for why and how the orientation towards a student perspective provides an understanding of the ways in which contemporary norms of belonging and recognition are part of a subjective identity negotiation between students and society. This implies a longitudinal, ethnographical and biographical design where the starting point is students as sufficient knowers of their everyday life informed by sociological understandings of ruling forces in contemporary society. It describes how to start as listeners rather than explainers and presents a different type of relationship between students and us as researchers. Further, the methodological principle of ‘emergent listening’ is presented as practised in the fieldwork consisting of three rounds of in-depth interviews with different foci and a visit to a chosen location. Finally, the analytical approach is described as going from thick descriptions to thematic analysis in an attempt to represent different understandings of how the life of a student with psychosocial problems appears when battling for belonging in higher education.
