Episode 10: Santiago Fieldwork 2015

**This post was written last Thursday, November 19th. An update is posted below!**

This week has been a weird one. I’m writing this a few days earlier than normal, since my boyfriend Justin arrives on Friday, and we’re taking a quick trip to Buenos Aires into early next week (I’m looking forward to a short vacation, and to showing Justin around South America!).

I found out Monday morning that my advisor & dissertation co-chair, Claudia Parodi, had passed away Sunday evening of cancer. She’d been in and out of treatment for a few years, but I had no idea that it had gotten to this point. I had the opportunity to send her an email on Friday, which I’m not sure if she got, but I wanted to express my hopes for her comfort as well as to let her know that my project was going well—she supported me a lot particularly in regards to this fieldwork, writing me letters of rec whenever I needed them for a fellowship application, encouraging me to lower my N so that my fieldwork goals would be feasible (thank goodness) and so that I wouldn’t be drowning in data upon my return. I hope she rests in peace.

Her passing also leaves us all a little shell-shocked—my colleagues and I are all enrolled in courses with her this quarter, and she is actually the only Spanish linguist in our department (our other linguist & member of my committee is a Portuguese linguist), so we’re a little in the dark right now as to what’s going to happen in the coming weeks & months. It’s particularly hard being out of the country right now—I can’t just make a meeting with someone, or have face time with the support staff of our department. I’m sure it will all work out, just some anxiety here regarding that. I’m very thankful for the support of the other members of my committee at this time.

In other weird news, I had a participant purposefully mislead me on Monday—he had told me that he fulfilled the requirements (i.e. having lived in V neighborhood for the majority of his life), then told me at the end (after I’d paid him & everything) that he hadn’t ever actually lived there, had only worked there, and just wanted to ‘help’ me. Argg. So I can’t count that one for this project.

Other than that, there have been some bright spots this week: I’m ahead of where I’d hoped to be by this particular date, I am currently at 58/64 interviews, and I’m also making progress on my control projects. I am feeling confident that though these last few demographics (middle-age-group females & older males, both in the V neighborhood) are proving tougher than I had anticipated to find participants in, particularly since they’re not enticed by the money, that I will meet all my goals by the time I leave Chile on December 17th. A piece of advice that Prof. Parodi gave me once is coming in handy: I have to emphasize not just the ‘collaborate in a project’ part, but the ‘please help me’ part. People are willing to help, perhaps more than to ‘participate in a a study’ :P

Thanks for reading, I’m looking forward to sharing more next post!

Update, 11/29:

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! It was great to have Justin here; he came at the perfect time. He left this morning, after a quick trip to Buenos Aires & siteseeing around Santiago, and it was great to have him & get to take him around to my sites & meet some of my friends. I am also really ready to finish up!!!! December 17th (my departure date) is looming!

I'm at 60/64 interviews, woo hoo! I have 2 more interviews on the books for this week, and I’m planning to do some serious follow-ups this afternoon, to see what (who!) else I can get.

I also plan to head down to my original LP site on Wednesday to maybe get one or 2 more control participants, as well as thank the folks at that site & say goodbye.

Current totals, as of 11/29/15:

Interviews & original perception test: 60/64

Perception control test: LP: 11/15, V: 7/15

Picture control test: 25/28