Ethnographic and discursive approaches have become more common in Language Policy research, focusing on social actors and how their actions are embedded in and shape social structures. Implementations of LP research have been addressed by problematising the notion of research as a neutral endeavour, a process spurred by the increasing focus on multilingualism and a criticism of Eurocentric worldviews.Researchers in the field of multilingualism are often motivated by a concern with social issues, but often this is accounted for in an implicit manner or not addressed at all. I present a nexus analysis (Scollon and Scollon 2004) to show how my engagement as a researcher and activist shaped the standardisation process of Kven (a Finnic minoritized language in Northern Norway) and discuss some of the dilemmas I faced, as there were tensions concerning the standardisation process (Lane 2014).All ethnographic research will lead to change, both on immediate and longer time scales. When engaging in standardisation processes, researchers shape both such processes and the outcomes. However, this is not a unidirectional process, as such engagement will also become a part of the historical body of the researcher. We shape the field, but we are also shaped by the field.