While organisational researchers have had a long-standing commitment to ensuring the well-being of others, relatively little attention has been paid to the care of fieldworkers themselves, particularly in emotional terms. Drawing on personal experiences of ethnographic research with UK charity Samaritans, this paper considers the ways in which embedding oneself in the culture of another organisation can expose researchers to pain which, if not recognised or ameliorated, can be become toxic. The paper questions whether such pain is an inevitable consequence of certain forms of qualitative research and, if so, how we might learn to cope with its effects. In answer, the paper describes a journey through immersion, drowning and eventually resurfacing, where the latter is facilitated by a process defined as emotional dispersion. The paper contributes to our understanding of (i) the necessarily painful nature of certain immersive modes of ethnographic and qualitative research, (ii) the conceptualisation of emotional dispersion and its practical implications for coping with emotional pain, burnout and toxicity as a relational practice and (iii) the relative balance of institutional and individual duties when it comes to a care of the self in emotional terms.

虽然组织研究人员长期以来一直致力于确保他人的福祉，但对田野工作者自身的照顾却很少关注，尤其是在情感方面。借鉴与英国慈善机构 Samaritans 进行的人种学研究的个人经验，本文考虑了将自己嵌入另一个组织的文化会使研究人员遭受痛苦的方式，如果不被承认或改善，可能会变得有毒。该论文质疑这种痛苦是否是某些形式的定性研究的不可避免的结果，如果是，我们将如何学会应对其影响。作为回答，该论文描述了一个通过沉浸、溺水和最终重新浮出水面的旅程，其中后者由定义为的过程促进情绪分散。该论文有助于我们理解 (i) 某些沉浸式民族志和定性研究模式的必然痛苦性质，(ii) 情绪分散的概念化及其在应对情绪痛苦、倦怠和毒性方面的实际意义作为一种关系实践和(iii) 当涉及到情感方面的自我照顾时，机构和个人职责的相对平衡。