7.4 Permits

Doing fieldwork entails constantly having to apply for permits and approvals from someone. Be it the consent of the Ethics Committee, the Internal Review Board, the funding agency or the approval of the researched community or the government. Very often the researcher must also apply for some kind of visa (except, of course, he/she stays in his/her home country).

Every research institution has its own system for giving ethical approvals and overseeing the guidelines accompanying them when research is done on humans in any way. Funds will normally only be granted if these approvals are attained. Fieldworkers are advised to go through the proper channels as the stakes are high. For example, in America it can happen that if federal policies are violated by only one researcher all funding of an institution is suspended. This is why ethical guidelines are taken very seriously.

Further, because linguistics is usually a very moderately represented discipline at the university-level, it can happen that no linguists are represented on the board and that the other board members, accustomed to proposals from psychology or sociology, will not give approval due to lack of understanding. Therefore, one must always remember to present all essential background information when applying and to add any information requested in order to avoid getting a negative response. A fieldworker must obtain approval before starting any data collection (cf. Crowley 2007: 23-25, 33; Milroy and Gordon 2001: 79; Bowern 2008: 171-173).

Doing research in a foreign country will require a number of extra permits. The researcher may have to obtain a second ethical approval from the area in which he/she intends to conduct his/her research. However, finding out who is responsible may turn out to be a challenging task. Searching the Internet, asking diplomatic missions and contacting one's own as well as the local national linguistic society will provide the fieldworker with the necessary documents setting out what to address in his/her project. These institutions usually have established ethical guidelines for doing linguistic research. In some foreign countries, there might be different kinds of specific procedures for researchers, for example, one might need an extra research visa with extra fees and conditions, especially for longer stays, which the immigration officer at the arrival might not be entitled to issue (cf. Crowley 2007: 24, 71).

Additionally, the fieldworker will need formal approval from the local community; arriving on site without prior notification will not ensure a warm welcome, as some localities may have certain ways of proceeding with strangers who want to be given insight into the inner life of their community, which need to be taken care of in advance. The issue of deciding who will initially present the project to the community on behalf of the fieldworker is crucial to the manner in which it will subsequently be received by the indigenous population. And knowing who to trust or learning who is in charge may often be very difficult (cf. Crowley 2007: 71-73, 83).

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