Abstract:
This socio-linguistic study documents the real-life challenges experienced by
researchers when conducting developmental linguistic research. The study asks:
“what are the challenges encountered during the data gathering phase of a
monolingual multi-participant longitudinal linguistic study of native speakers of
Sinhala, aged between 9 months to 4 years?” Fifty participants were randomly
selected from the Matara-Kekanadura MOH area. Home visits were made once in
every two weeks over a period of four months, and one-hour audio sessions were
recorded focusing on the natural speech of the children. However, this is a parallel
study to the main objective of the field visits. The study focuses on two kinds of
challenges faced by sociolinguists when conducting research: internal and external
challenges. Internals challenges consist of those connected to the researcher and the
data collecting team themselves. They are consequences of the degree of dexterity
the researcher has to handle and adjust to the fieldwork environment, their expertise,
and their capacity to be responsible for their own safety. External challenges emerge
when the research team engages with the participant’s community. This study
discusses four specific types of external challenges: the behaviors of the participants,
the behaviors of their family members and neighbors, noise disturbances and the
cultural environments of the participating families. The study finds that the choice of
the study population, the geographical area and the methods chosen to conduct
fieldwork bear significantly on the data and findings. Manipulating these three factors
in future research will therefore result in differences in the data and findings.
