6.2 Compensation

Although many – if not most – people will be content with simply contributing to a project, it may be appropriate to compensate informants for their time and their services. In rural communities, life can be a struggle and the time interviewees spend providing data for someone's research takes away from the time they could be dedicating to the support of their families. Therefore, most linguists agree that every good fieldworker should always adhere to the principle of linguistic gratuity. This gratuity can, but must not be of a financial nature. In fact, most would agree to rather return favors by means of lending a helping hand in case of need. One could, for instance, help with house or yard work, or be of some sort of service to the community as a whole etc. (cf. Crowley 2007: 30-31, 173; Bowern 2008: 162). If, however, one should decide to reimburse an informant for his/her time by means of financial payment, there are a number of factors to consider.

Firstly, one should never try to change an area's or community's existing economic inequities by paying an informant an inappropriate amount of money. This might have a negative effect on later research conducted within the area or community as interviewees that have once been paid will expect to be paid for their future services as well. Many fieldworkers (especially PhD or post-graduate students), however, may not have the means to recompense their informants in form of financial payments. So, in such a case, it may boil down to financial compensation impeding future research projects of fellow linguists. Additionally, paying informants may encourage them to participate for all the wrong reasons. The most valuable data is provided based on intrinsic motivation not external remuneration. First and foremost, interviewees should be interested in helping the project, not making money (cf. Crowley 2007: 30-31, 173; Vaux 1999: 17; Bowern 2008: 158, 162-163).

Secondly, one must consider the manner in which a particular community will expect the researcher to transfer money payments. Sometimes handing out cash may be inappropriate or even insulting. A good fieldworker must be creative and considerate of local practices. One could, for instance repay informants for their services by buying them gifts. These gifts might need creative accounting as you cannot let the informants sign receipts for them, but your funding agency will want some kind of receipt. Even when paying cash, the researcher might need some help from a local language center or community council with administering the money in case he/she encounters problems regarding taxation (cf. Crowley 2007: 30-31, 173; Bowern 2008: 162-163).

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