Conducting Research in Conservation : Social Science Methods and Practice

ISBN-13: 9780415457910 / Angielski / Twarda / 2010 / 400 str.

Helen Newing;Christine Eagle;Rajindra Puri

Opis

This is the first textbook on social science research methods written specifically for use in the expanding and increasingly multidisciplinary field of environmental conservation. It is targeted primarily at undergraduate students of conservation and related subjects, and provides a comprehensive, accessible guide to social science research methods for students with no prior knowledge of the social sciences. It will also be relevant for the many conservation postgraduates and practitioners who have trained in the natural sciences and need to develop skills in social science research.

The book is divided into five sections. The first section is on planning a research project and includes chapters on the need for social science research in conservation, selecting a research topic and developing a research design. Section II is on practical issues in carrying out fieldwork with local communities, including relationships between the researcher and the study community; ethical issues; and collecting and managing social science data in the field. Section III is the core of the book, and provides a detailed text on standard qualitative and quantitative social science methods, including participant observation, interviewing and questionnaires, and workshops. Section IV shows how to analyse social science data both qualitatively (coding, indexing) and quantitatively (simple descriptive statistics and inferential statistics up to and including multiple regression, factor analysis and cluster analysis). The final section outlines the writing-up process and then discusses what should happen after the end of the formal research project, especially in the context of applications in conservation policy and practice.

The book is illustrated throughout with practical examples of conservation-related research from different parts of the world (Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia) and different ecosystems (forests, grasslands, desert, marine and riverine systems; also farmland and home gardens). In addition to examples in the text, it is intended to include a series of boxes with brief narratives from students and practitioners describing practical issues they have faced in the field

There are very few people who have expertise in both the natural and the social sciences, and this continues to be a constraint in the development of the discipline of conservation. The proposed book will be invaluable tool in the training of the next generation of conservation professionals.

Spis treści

Section 1: Planning a Research Project  1. Introduction: Social Science Research in Conservation  2. Defining the Research Topic  3. Developing the Research Design  4. Sampling  Section 2: Methods  5. Participant Observation  6. Qualitative Interviews and Focus Groups  7. Questionnaires  8. Documenting Local Environmental Knowledge and Change  9. Community Workshops and the PRA Toolbox  10. Participatory Mapping  Section 3: Fieldwork with Local Communities  11. Preparing for Fieldwork and Collecting and Managing Data in the Field  12. The Role of the Researcher  13. The Ethical Issues in Research  Section 4: Data Processing and Analysis  14. Processing and Analysis of Qualitative Data  15. Quantitative Analysis: Descriptive Statistics  16. Quantitative Analysis: Inferential Statistics  Section 5: Writing up the Report  17. Writing up the Report  18. Final Dissemination and Follow-up

O autorze

Helen Newing has a first degree from Reading University in Zoology and Psychology and an interdisciplinary PhD from the Psychology and Biological Sciences departments at Stirling University. She has carried out extensive fieldwork in Peru and West Africa both for the NGO sector and as an academic researcher, and has contributed to research and implementation projects in some 26 countries. Current research interests include protected areas governance, traditional knowledge and indigenous rights. Since 1999 she has worked as a lecturer at the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) in the School of Anthropology and Conservation at the University of Kent, where she has developed teaching materials on social science methods and interdisciplinarity for conservation students.

Christine Eagle has an MSc in Social Statistics and has been teaching research design and statistical analysis to conservation and anthropology students since the late 1990s at the University of Kent. She has participated in the design of research projects involving fieldwork both in the UK and in developing countries. She is passionately committed to improving students' numerical and statistical understanding, and promoting a mixed-methods approach to social science research that encompasses both quantitative and qualitative empirical methodologies.

Rajindra Puri is a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Anthropology and Ethnobiology at the University of Kent. He received his PhD in Anthropology from the University of Hawai'i in 1997 and has worked at the East-West Center in Honolulu and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Bogor, Indonesia. He co-authored CIFOR's Multidisciplinary Landscape Assessment (MLA) methodology, which integrates classic biodiversity assessment with ethnobotanical tools and anthropological methods to document local people’s priorities, values and knowledge of natural resources.This project produced a methods manual currently being used in several countries across the world. He is the author of Deadly Dances in the Bornean Rainforest, Hunting knowledge of the Penan Benalui (KITLV 2005), and the Bulungan Ethnobiology Handbook (CIFOR 2001), a regional study of plants and animals in Indonesian Borneo. His current research explores climate anthropology in Borneo and Europe.

C W (Bill) Watson is Emeritus Professor of Social Anthropology and Multi-Cultural Studies at the University of Kent and a past member of the Council of the Royal Anthropological Institute. His research has focused on issues including multiculturalism, the practice and politics of Islam in Indosesia, perceptions of gender, local village politics and textual criticism. He has over twenty years’ field experience, including field supervision of doctoral students, and has also worked as a consultant to industry. He has taught research ethics to anthropology postgraduates for ten years.