Research etiquette

[lingua_franca]

I'm working on a postdoc project on intergroup reconciliation after mass violence and I'm off on fieldwork today. I'm supposed to be gone for ten days and I will be living with participants. But I've just been offered an unexpectedly early physio assessment a week from now, as someone has cancelled their appointment. This means coming home three days sooner. It's not an urgent problem, just an annoying one, and if I don't accept this appointment I don't know when they'll fit me in. I'm worried to accept it in case my participants interpret my early departure as a sign I am not really interested in their lives or invested in the project - this is a pretty 'closed' community and I'm fortunate to have gained access. What would others do in this situation?

[sarahg]

Hi Lingua,

Did you manage to resolve this?
Hope the fieldwork is going ok

[lingua_franca]

The decision was made for me by an unattended suitcase at the airport. Baggage handlers thought it was a bomb and the terminal was evacuated. Then in the resulting chaos I got stuck in the terminal for ten hours and couldn't even rebook my flight, as there were no staff on hand to do it for ages and then the queue for the rebooking desk was like the line for Glastonbury (only with fewer hippies and more bad-tempered). I was able to get a new flight for the day after the next. As I'd already lost two days to this chaos, I decided I couldn't justify truncating my trip any further, and I didn't take the physio appointment. I made the right decision - I established a really bright positive relationship with participants and they have invited me back whenever I like. It's worth putting up with a creaky sore shoulder for a couple of extra months for.