Ecological engagement in studying adolescents undergoing the process of family reunification

Abstract

This chapter aims to present and discuss the theoretical-methodological procedure of ecological engagement, used in a research with five adolescents in family reunification. Based on the Bioecological Theory of Human Development, the research has given an ecological perspective of the reunification phenomenon, considering it as proximal process. Thus, the authors discussed the particularities of the procedure for the planning of the research, the procedures, the role of the researcher and the participants, the engagement in the task, and for the analysis of data. Finally, it is concluded that the ecological engagement is an interesting and rich tool for the understanding of complex phenomena in the field of human and social sciences.