The article focuses on reflections which accompany the activities of collecting, transcribing, classifying and analysing material for the presentation of the way of living of families from Kozjansko from the first half of the 20th century. Because the work is based on the analysis of life stories, the articles discusses numerous dilemmas which the authors of researches based on the analysis of life stories encounter. The article further presents some personal experiences and how they helped searching for the truth. The reflections draw attention to the complex process which accompanies research work, an activity from which emotions can hardly be excluded.