Episode 5: Santiago Fieldwork 2015

In the immortal words of Jon Bon Jovi...

WhooOoooOooa, we're halfway theeee-re! That's correct! This week brought the halfway point of my data collection: I have 33/60 interviews done as of Friday, and BOY does it feel good. I'm indebted to my contacts at my LP sites, as they have been incredible in helping me contact potential participants (one even going to the trouble of asking me to make him a schedule, so he could tell people exactly when to show up, awesome), and I certainly couldn't have done it without these folks. I have 2 more interviews to conduct in this neighborhood, and 2 holes to fill (perception tests that need to be redone), so that's what I'm focusing on in this neighborhood now. This past week I've been starting to transition to the V neighborhood, though I'll still be going to LP 2 days this upcoming week, and at least 1 next week. I've been thinking about what has made my data collection so successful in the LP neighborhood, and aside from the great contacts, it's been that I've had places (specificially, community centers) to come to, and I kept showing up at those places, becoming a sort of regular. I realized I needed something similar to that in the V neighborhood if possible, so a few days this week I sat down & blind emailed all the directors of community centers & organizations in V-- pretty much anyone who had an email address. I've got a meeting with one tomorrow (huzzah!), and hopefully responses will continue to trickle in.

Some other highlights from this week:

Monday: was a holiday, so took advantage of catching up with some old friends!

Tuesday: in LP, got 4 interviews that day! One of them was from a poster my friend Caro and I (the director of the center there) and I had hung my first day there, next door at the library. #win!

Wednesday: Also in LP neighborhood, a cold, rainy day!

Thursday: made my way to the bank (banks are only open 9-2, M-F?!?!?!) to change my big bills so I have small bills to pay participants. Went to the university, got some interviews & got some other backing up/coding done.

Friday: birthday celebration in the morning at my site for some members of the staff, then interviews in the afternoon!

My mom arrives Wednesday, can't wait! I'm taking off one day during the week for us to do some touristy things, and she's going to shadow me the other workdays! :) Lessons learned:

1. Though it didn't feel like much at the time, my first 2 weeks here of networking/ postering/ handing out flyers are still bearing fruit. This week I interviewed 2 of the people that I had walked up to & chatted with at the university, and I continue to get emails from folks who've seen my tear-off posters (see pic below of more tabs torn off, woo hoo!).

2. I'm delighted that when people email/contact me, even if their particular demographic is full for the production portion of my study, I have other things I can ask them to do, as part of my side projects.

3. On one day, I met with someone who I didn't need for the full production portion, but rather as a perception replacement. I didn't make it clear to him up front that that was for less $$, so he still charged me the full amount. That was a bummer! Need to make sure that is clear.

4. Weather is a big deal. On Tuesday morning, I had a participant scheduled, and he didn't show up. My friend said, 'well, it is cold & rainy." I found myself agreeing with her, then I had a quick moment of 'wait, what!?' In Chicago, that's clearly no excuse, or nothing would EVER get done. Clearly things are different here, and I sort of remembered that, but this still caught me off guard.

#santiago2015 #fieldwork #sociophonetics