This assignment required me to be a student leader for the course Human Dimensions of Conservation. I explored a leadership dimension within my school program to create a leadership philosophy that reflected upon my own leadership style. I wrote a summary for the students after each virtual class meeting, provided feedback to students on their projects and assignments, and assisted the facilitators with daily activities and assignments. I provide support and feedback to the students while also giving them insight from when I took the course last Summer 2019.
This was created for my Leadership in Science and Inquiry course in collaboration with being a student leader for Human Dimensions of Conservation in Summer 2020.
Human Dimensions of Conservation Student Leader
Abstract
Being the student leader for Human Dimensions of Conservation has allowed me to share a new perspective of human-wildlife conflict and why it is so important to focus on humans when discussing conservation. I was able to complete my goal of having a more focused discussion with students where we both shared information about the role humans play in conservation and why every solution will include human impacts. I worked with AIP students. I assisted in holding discussions during the required online days. These days substituted the required in-person days, which were cancelled due to COVID-19. I also provided summaries of the online days and feedback on the students’ posts and projects. I partnered and networked with the course instructor, Heather Taft and facilitators, Kirstie Ruppert and Alex Warneke. I was evaluated by the instructor and facilitators and knew what their expectations of me were prior to the course beginning. I helped the students gain a greater understanding of the human dimension side of conservation and why it is such an important topic to focus on. I waited to see what the students already knew about how humans impact conservation and I wanted them to learn the in-depth version of that and how everything humans do impacts wildlife. My leadership style changed by being a student leader for this course because it is in a field I have never had any formal teaching leadership role in prior to this course. The themes of Human Dimension of Conservation are very important to know and focus on and understanding the themes and topics help strengthen all aspects of conservation.
Introduction
The main theme of my project was to focus on human-wildlife conflict which is important because it is embedded in everything relating to conservation in some way. I used the ideas from Barua, Bhagwat, and Jadhav (2013) to help explain the cost of human-wildlife conflict. I used Chetkiewicz, St. Clair, and Boyce (2006) to help explain the use of corridors and how they affect and impact both humans and wildlife. I used Paviolo, et al. (2018) to help explain human-wildlife conflict and how it relates to the big cats which lines up with my master plan. I used Redpath, et al. (2013) to help the students understand and manage conservation conflicts. I accepted the position of being a student leader for Human Dimensions of Conservation because the themes and topics fit so well with my master plan of big cat conservation focusing on human-big cat conflict. COVID-19 has created a major discussion in regards to human-wildlife conflict because the virus is zoonotic and passed from animals to humans. Due to this I was able to easily discuss a situation everyone can relate to because we are all under stay-at-home orders, our in-person days were fully online and some students were affected by the COVID-19 situation and the protest and rioting situations. Some students work at the zoo and had to adjust to the changes to protect the animals, since the Bronx Zoo had multiple tigers and lions test positive for COVID-19. The main themes of this course strongly tie into my focus on coexisting with wildlife and the role humans play in that. Humans have a huge impact on wildlife and we must all learn how we can coexist with nature and share different viewpoints on how to best achieve that goal. My goal was to create valuable feedback to the students, create informative summaries of the in person days, and encourage the students to expand their perspective on these topics relating to human-wildlife conflict and realizing humans play a role in every element in conservation.
Project Details
This project was focused on me being a student leader for the course Human Dimensions of Conservation, that took place this past summer 2020. The course was fully online. It was supposed to have a couple of in-person days, but to ensure everyone’s safety with COVID-19 those in-person days had been substituted for mandatory online days. The virtual days were held on zoom and consisted of four days of discussions, lessons, videos, and smaller group work. We discussed the mandatory course readings on zoom, which allowed everyone to speak up and ask questions, like they would during an in-person day. The discussions were held online through the project dragonfly website, where I was able to engage with students and dig deeper into the topics and share my perspective with them while also expanding theirs. I was able to connect with the students by seeing how they tackle the topics and discussions through the online platform. I hope my feedback and encouragement allowed them to see things in a different way while also learning how to listen and share in order to get others to understand these difficult topics.
My audience was Advanced Inquiry Program (AIP) students, who are entering their second summer in the program. There were also two students who were not accepted into the program but were allowed to take classes. These two students had more questions than the other students in terms of how the program works and what to expect out of the work and submission process. I helped the students dive into discussions about topics and themes related to human-wildlife conflict and solutions, project sustainability through engagement of local communities, and conservation education and outreach for communities abroad. Since, most of the students will be beginning their second year in the program they know what to expect from the classes and they begin to allow themselves to focus on a topic they are passionate about. In the world of conservation everything has to do with wildlife and humans, which adds to why human dimensions of conservation was such an important course for these students to take, so they can begin to understand the roles humans play in conservation. The students had some background information on conservation through their previous courses and this course will allow them to focus on the role of human dimensions involving scientific inquiry and why this is an important topic to focus on.
I discussed the main course themes and topics with the students and kept them engaged by helping them to connect the topics and themes to their master plans and/or course projects. I highlighted the important topics discussed during the in-virtual days and wrote a summary of each in-virtual day so the students had something to reference when looking back at what was discussed each day. I focused on the required readings and held discussions on those readings. I also asked three core questions to get the students thinking about the human dimension side of conservation in their lives and current events. I also sent all of them outside sources that could be used for their social inquiry project. I held conversations with students one-on-one on the dragonfly workshop page, through email, in google hangouts and even texted some. I wanted to be available to the students in whichever format was easier for them and benefited them the most.
On the first virtual day I led a discussion on the required readings where I asked three questions based on the information within the readings and asked the students to engage in a conservation about it. Most students engaged with the questions and even asked a question in return. The first question was, ‘How do any recent events relate to the concepts, theories, or methods that were covered in the readings?’. Responses varied from a blame game of ‘who caused this’ to Vaske et al (2012) presenting social psychological approaches to human dimensions of wildlife. The second question was ‘What concept, theory, or method do you think you will use or relate to while working on your Social Inquiry Project?’. Responses varied again with how the pandemic will alter research and data collection to what motivates people and what will get them to change their mind. After the students answered this question I shared a story about how the Cheetah Conservation Fund-Botswana named the cheetahs after the girls in the village to get their male relatives to think twice about killing a cheetah with their girl relatives name. The killing of cheetahs instantly dropped. The third question was ‘How could you use these concepts, theories or methods in your master plan?’. Although many students are still working on their master plan, and some were currently taking the Master Plan in Action course, this question gave them an idea on how they can incorporate the human dimension side of conservation into their master plan. One student mentioned that, ‘by bringing in different disciplines into science allows different aspects coming together for the benefit of research and new ideas’.
During the virtual days I took notes on what was occurring, questions students had, and any important information Kirstie or Alex shared. I wrote up my summaries, and added some of my own voice, and emailed it to Kirstie and Alex to review and ensure everything looked okay and that nothing was left out. I then posted each summary in that virtual days ‘to-do’ post on the dragonfly workshop. There were four virtual days so I created four summaries. The students mentioned that this was helpful and liked that I included extra links or sources they could view. You can view my virtual day summaries in Appendixes A through D. In addition to the summaries I also added several sources in the ‘shoot the breeze’ section of the dragonfly workshop to give the students even more information about topics and themes of the course that were not part of the required or supplementary readings.
I worked closely with Kirstie Ruppert, who was the main facilitator for the course, and Alex Warneke, who was the co-facilitator for the course. I worked and helped them with the students during the in-virtual days and included any information they left out. I worked with Heather Taft, the instructor for the course, and I helped her by reviewing students' work and leaving feedback for them. I guided students by following the direction Heather, Kirstie, and Alex wanted me to follow, but I also provided more encouragement and ‘have you thought about this’ feedback. I supported everything Heather, Kirstie, and Alex said and did and helped them get their course goals competed with the students throughout the course.
I asked Heather, Kirstie, and Alex what they expected of me prior to course beginning and how I was doing after each virtual day and after each major feedback discussion. I wanted to ensure I was being as interactive, supportive, and helpful to the facilitators and Heather and to the students. I also wanted to know how I was doing with the students by focusing on the course themes and topics. I wanted to know where I could improve and what else I can bring up in discussions for the students to learn from. I knew what expectations the three of them had for me prior to the course starting so I followed their expectations and the expectations I had for myself that we discussed prior to the course beginning. I wanted to be of help and benefit the three of them running the course and be of benefit to the students who took the course. Inquiry impacts my leadership skills by reminding me that the action of seeking information is just as important as doing the action of the project. It is also a good reminder that there is no stupid question and everyone understands information in their own way, so I described tasks in different ways to ensure everyone had a chance of understanding.
Reflection
My results from received feedback show that I was helpful to Heather, Kirstie, Alex and the students. I hoped that I would be able to encourage and empower each student to understand the importance of these topics and discuss them throughout their master plan. Humans affect everything in the world and it is important to know how to communicate with others so we can do what is best for conservation. We must learn how to listen to others before speaking and then collect and create a solution that can help all those involved.
There were no problems in the course, but there were outside events that affected everyone differently. The first major change was moving the in-person days to fully online, but in the field of conservation we must always be willing to adapt and overcome. It was easy to engage with the students on these main topics and themes and allow them to look at these topics with a different perspective. Another issue was COVID-19 changes and the many different impacts students were facing and trying to adapt to while working through the course. Lastly, current events made an impact across the country as protests and riots broke out everywhere. In San Diego we were hit with a few riots and destruction of property which impacted and affected some students. By working together and reminding the students that they can focus on themselves first we were able to get through the hardships this semester held and ensured that all students finished the course.
I learned how involved these students want to become in human dimensions of conservation. A lot of people do not realize how important the human side of conservation is and neglect to learn about how everything relates and is impacted by humans. My community and these students learned why it is so important to understand the role humans play in conservation and how their impacts have a cause and effect on everything in the world. They now understand why we need to focus on humans while trying to help plants and animals and decrease human-wildlife conflict by creating solutions that will help improve the lives of humans while also protecting wildlife.
My leadership style changed immensely because this is the first time I was in a formal teaching position focusing on conservation. I was forced to be a leader in a field that I am new in. I strongly agree with Simon Black, et al. (2010) when he said that leadership is an important component for conservation programs. Good leadership will help educate and encourage others and that is what I strived to do for the students in this course. Method wise I believe I fall under the ‘situational leadership’ where effective leaders adapt their leadership style to the task and competence of those around you (Black, et al., 2010). I took in what the students knew and adapted what I wanted to share and the style I presented the information to them so they could learn the information and take in the information in another way that may have helped them understand the information. I took Benjamin Redekop’s (2010) advice by being a leader that empowers the individuals around me.
Conclusion
I believe I completed my goal of creating valuable feedback to the students that helped them expand their knowledge on human dimensions of conservation. I also believe they now realize that humans play a role in every task relating to conservation and that it is important that they have at least one aspect of their master plan that focuses on the human dimension. I think my role as student leader for Human Dimensions helped me grow my leadership skills, expand the student's perspective and helped me relate this topic even more to my master plan of big cat conservation. I am grateful for the experience I gained during this course and that I was able to share and pass on my own knowledge and experiences to the students. I wanted the students to understand that humans play a huge role in conservation and that understanding the why will help reduce conflict and inspire solutions so humans and wildlife can coexist.
Literature Cited
Barua, M., Bhagwat, S. A., & Jadhav, S. (2013). The hidden dimensions of human-wildlife
conflict: health impacts, opportunity and transaction costs. Elsevier: Biological Conservation, 157, 309–316. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2012.07.014
Black, S. A., Groombridge, J. J., & Jones, C. G. (2011). Leadership and conservation
effectiveness: finding a better way to lead. Conservation Letters, 4(5), 329-339
Chetkiewicz, C.-L. B., St. Clair, C. C., & Boyce, M. S. (2006). Corridors for conservation:
integrating pattern and process. The Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 37, 317–342. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.37.091305.110050
Paviolo, A., Cruz, P., Iezzi, M. E., Pardo, J. M., Varela, D., De Angelo, C., … Di Bitetti, M. S.
(2018). Barriers, corridors or suitable habitat? Effect of monoculture tree plantations on the habitat use and prey availability for jaguars and pumas in the Atlantic forest. Elsevier: Forest Ecology and Management, 430, 576–586. doi: 10.1016/j.foreco.2018.08.029
Redekop, B. (2010). Challenges and strategies of leading for sustainability. In. B. W.
Redekop & S. Olson (Eds.), Leadership for environmental sustainability (pp. 56-66). New York: Taylor and Francis.
Redpath, S. M., Young, J., Evely, A., Linnell, J. D. C., Watt, A., Gutierrez, R. J., … Lambert, R.
A. (2013). Understanding and managing conservation conflicts . Trends in Ecology & Evolution , 28(2), 100–109. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2012.08.021
In: Decker, D.J., Riley, S.J., & Siemer, W.F. (Eds.), Human dimensions of wildlife (pp. 43-57). Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Appendix A
Virtual Day 1:
Kirstie’s cell phone number: (XXX) XXX-XXXX - use during face-to-face dates for questions about activities
“Conservation is a human issue”- said best by Julia
Review of the Readings:
All of the readings are foundational reference materials.
The Bennett article discusses diversity of conservation social sciences.
The combination of the readings gives you enough information of what is out there, so that you can find the best fit for your interests/needs and identify experts that can help you form a more well-rounded project.
How can you create a project that involves people in these multiple fields, where does one start looking for these collaborations?
Institute for Conservation Research (ICR)
San Diego Zoo Global
Networking
AIP Networking- AIP has a Facebook group with current and former students and you can find people and resources from all sort of focuses
Literature familiarity- pay attention to prominent names
Reach out to the authors and other researchers
Use the Graduate student card
“Hi I’m *your name*, I am a current graduate student at Miami University in collaboration with San Diego Zoo Global”. You can add your master plan, focus study area, or your question.
Reading Questions:
Question 1: How do any recent events relate to the concepts, theories, or methods that were covered in the reading?
Vaske et al. presents social psychological approaches to HDW, including the cognitive hierarchy as a framework to place cognitions in relation to each other (e.g. values are foundational, difficult to change)
Interconnected values, value orientations, attitudes/norms, behavioral intentions, and behaviors (through cognitive hierarchy)
Trust is important to the process of HDW
How the pandemic is creating small changes in behaviors, and how people are now reevaluating their life.
There is a blame game or ‘who caused this’, resulting in a race to be the first to publish. This is also leading to trust issues between the public and scientists/researchers. Points to need for increased understanding of the process of science.
Current circumstances may increase barriers for pro-conservation behaviors. You want to be eco-friendly and have been, but now are not allowed to use reusable cups or bags when you are out. This is also forcing people to use more resources and cause a different type of impact.
Question 2: What concept, theory, or method do you think you will use or relate to while working on your Social Inquiry Project?
The pandemic will alter how research is done and collected.
There is a potential for sampling biases, based on how people are reached.
It may also change how data can be collected (e.g. virtual interviews instead of in person focus groups)
Focus groups or your audience may feel uncomfortable in group formats with the current pandemic
What motivates people? What gets them to change their mind?
One example - children can change the beliefs of the adults
Cheetah Conservation Fund- Botswana: named the cheetahs after the girls of the village and cheetah deaths decreased quickly.
Engage the children with creative tasks- draw a picture of ‘x’
Hannah Webster (AIP Grad, facilitator for Conservation Education class) may be a good person to network with!
Play Space learning, is the connection being done effectively?
Here is what I found regarding IRB for questioning children:
“Get permission from participants - If working with children, before the project begins, be sure to get permission from the children themselves and also their parents.”
The ‘Conducting Ethical Research’ document explains the ‘questioning children’ aspect, particularly page 11.
Question 3: How could you use these concepts, theories or methods in your master plan?
Bennett’s article provided comfort by discussing different road pathways, and is helping shape some master plans.
Some of you are very confused and overwhelmed by Bennett’s article, that is okay! Just do your best and focus on the aspects that stick out to you or affect you the most.
Bringing in different disciplines into science allows different aspects coming together for the benefit of research, and new ideas.
Attitudes, beliefs, norms, and opinions within organizations.
Highlighting social science aspects during field trips can reach a different set of interests and different types of people and children.
Focus on the hidden impacts, the ones that are not documented. Find the hidden impacts. Why are the hidden and what are they? This would be useful when understanding human-wildlife conflict and if researching hidden costs
On your Own you watched presentations on:
Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches from Jenny Glikman.
Questionnaire Design from Jenny Glikman.
Two videos on the Terns and Plovers Case Study from Gabriela Ibarguchi
Appendix B
Virtual Day 2:
Kirstie’s cell phone number: (XXX) XXX-XXX - use during face-to-face dates for questions about activities
Kirstie’s Skype Name: XXXXXX -use during face-to-face dates for questions about activities
Review of Yesterday:
Internet collected date: ICR as not sampled general public through internet collected data
USFSW Human Dimension article in Shoot the Breeze
Sexton, N. R., Miller, H. M., & Dietsch, A. M. (2011). Appropriate uses and considerations for online surveying in human dimensions research. Human Dimensions of Wildlife, 16(3), 154-163.
IRB will have you fill in your methods, ask if you are focusing on vulnerable populations (children, pregnant women, prisoners), your consent form, and data collection instrument
How do you get your questions to your audiences if you cannot reach your audience?
Good news, you do not have to worry about that for this course.
You can continue this on in another course, for an independent study or an internship.
Make connections, can you collaborate with anyone in your chosen audience?
Send out multiple questionnaires knowing you are only going to receive a few back.
Morning Activity:
Watched the videos ‘Intro to Activity: Questionnaire and Qualitative Interviews’ and ‘How to Be a Good Interviewer’.
Broke into your Groups of Four to create your qualitative and quantitative questionnaires.
Review of Morning Activity:
Draft your questions in a non-bias way.
Pay attention to the kinds of questions you ask and how you ask them.
Afternoon Activity:
Watched the videos ‘Demonstration- Mock Quantitative Interview’ and ‘Demonstration- Mock Qualitative Interview’.
Broke into Pairs to practice interviews.
Use both qualitative and quantitative questions.
This can be done in the same interview that includes qual and quant questions or two separate “practice” interviews.
Ask your demographic questions as quantitative questions.
Remember to be respectful to other cultures, religions, genders, etc.
Some resources posted in Shoot the Breeze
It will depend highly on context and mode of data collection
Need to be thoughtful in how questions are asked, and potentially changed after piloting
Important to also consider whether a demographic variable is necessary and will be used for analysis
Optional 4pm Zoom Meeting:
Ask your questions word for word, so your questions are the same for every person you ask.
Face-to-face interview is mode of data collection.
Ask qualitative questions in a more open-ended way- why did you go into protected areas? What are some reasons you would go into protected areas?
What option is best for me, a synthesis paper or a questionnaire?
Synthesis: Collect research and literature on a subject/topic you want to focus on.
Tigers in Nepal: tolerance for tigers. Case study that measured if they wanted more tigers in the area. Case study that measured if they would kill a tiger in the area.
Questionnaire: If you want to implement these questions in the future.
Things to Know for Tomorrow:
Kirstie will be available on Zoom from 9-10am
From 10-11:30am you should watch the videos below (in recommended viewing order):
SE Asia Overview- Background for Data
Intro to Statistical Tests for Quantitative Data
Into to Qualitative Coding
At 11:30 we will all be on a synchronous meeting via zoom
Appendix C
Virtual Day 3:
Kirstie’s cell phone number: (XXX) XXX-XXXX - use during face-to-face dates for questions about activities
Kirstie’s Skype Name: XXXXX -use during face-to-face dates for questions about activities
*Current events are impacting everyone. Please stay safe! If you need help, support, or a break please reach out and let us know. Your safety, wellbeing and health (mentally, physically, psychologically, and emotionally) takes priority.*
Morning Activities:
Watched the videos below:
SE Asia Overview- Background for Data
Intro to Statistical Tests for Quantitative Data
Intro to Qualitative Coding
Mid-Morning Activities:
Don’t be scared of statistics!
Population is ‘N’
Subset of the large population, also known as a sample is ‘n’
Use statistics to create inferences
Baby Hippo Example:
Will baby hippos get bigger with diet A or diet B?
Create your hypothesis- prediction of what you think will happen
Null Hypothesis- H。- nothing will change- the weight will remain the same, no difference between them.
Alternative Hypothesis-HA- your prediction based off of the literature or observations, if given diet A the baby hippos get bigger
X-axis Independent Variable - diet A and diet B- the treatments you are testing
Y-axis Dependent Variable -what you measure, change in baby hippo weight as a result of the treatments (Diet A and Diet B)
Your variable could be continuous (numeric variables on a scale), categorical (data that fits into categories), dichotomous (yes/no, male/female)
Our Experiment: We have 20 baby hippos- 10 eating diet A and 10 eating diet B - we collect data on the change of their weight over time
From this data we can calculate an average and a variance and use statistical tests to understand if there is a difference between treatments and if that difference is statistically significant (i.e. we are 95% confident that the difference in weight is a result of the treatments and not random chance).
Types of Statistical Tests - type used depends on the data that you have
Parametric tests:
Assumptions - Data is normally distributed, data is independent, variances are homogenous.
T-test- compares two treatment groups - can be paired or unpaired
ANOVA (Analysis of Variance)- compares 3 or more treatment groups
Chi squared- type of data you are collecting: continuous or categorical. Observed is different than what was expected
Statistical Significant: P< .05 means we have 95% confidence that our result is from the effect we placed on the variable and not random chance
Non-parametric test: The types of test you use when your data is not normally distributed
Confidence intervals give the range of probable values within the unknown (true) value lies.
The example I shared on the call:
Do attitudes toward baby hippos differ between SDZG members and non-members? (measured as 5pt continuous variable)
Mean attitude scores:
Members M=4.5, CI +/- .3 [4.2,4.8]
Non-members M=4.0, CI +/- .3 [3.7,4.3]
t-test p=.048
The p value suggests a significant difference in attitudes toward hippos between members and non-members, but assessing the confidence intervals shows that an overlap between the 95% confidence intervals exists, and that significant difference should be considered with caution.
Qualitative- exploratory, you don’t know what you are going to find.
Shoot the Breeze has multiple pieces of information on statistics.
Optional SPSS Walk-Through
You can download SPSS for FREE as a Miami University Student.
More information was added to Shoot the Breeze to help you out with statistics.
SIP Discussion:
Questionnaire development- you will still write an introduction and methods section like you would in any paper.
Synthesis paper- synthesize literature, compare, contrast, and use your voice to interpret. Focus on the methods of the papers to synthesize.
Annotated Bibliography- Make sure you are using original research (first person research, the author(s) are the ones who conducted the research). Have at least 5 sources. Be detailed, summarize and focus on the methods that were used.
We broke out into smaller groups to discuss the SIP’s in more detail.
Getting Ready for Tomorrow:
Kirstie will be available for ‘office hours’ at 9am.
If you have any questions or concerns, hop on a call with Alex and Kirstie tomorrow during the asynchronous work time, or schedule another time that works best.
I highly suggest you take them up on this! They can give you valuable feedback before you turn something in for a grade, they can give you resources and networks that can help you, and they can get you to think about your project in more detail and with different aspects.
Since we talked about baby hippos; here is the pygmy hippo baby boy that was born to Mabel at the San Diego Zoo on April 9th! As of May 20th he has not been named.
Appendix D
Virtual Day 4:
Kirstie’s cell phone number: (XXX) XXX-XXXX - use during face-to-face dates for questions about activities
Kirstie’s Skype Name: XXXXX -use during face-to-face dates for questions about activities
*Current events are impacting everyone. Please stay safe! If you need help, support, or a break please reach out and let us know. Your safety, wellbeing and health (mentally, physically, psychologically, and emotionally) takes priority.*
Morning Activities:
Watched 5+ of the 14 videos below: (feel free to watch more than 5)
Optimizing Normative Feedback to Increase Residential Recycling- Samantha Mertens
Demand for Tigers in Vietnam- Elizabeth Davis
Human Dimensions of Marine Protected Areas- Angela Kemsley
A Social Science program for the Capital Regional District Regional Parks of Victoria, British Colummbia- Beatrice Frank
Fostering Empathy for Animals- Kathayoon Khalil
Combating Wildlife Crime- Meredith Gore
Visitor Risk Perceptions in Acadia National Park- Lydia Horne
Role of Emotions in Human-Coyote Interactions- Carly Sponarski
Living with Leopards: Coexistence with Pastoralist Communities in Northern Kenya- Kirstie Ruppert
The Gendered Dimensions of Urban Wildmeat Trafficking- Aalayna Green
Do Pledges Actually Work? Influencing student behavior through conservation action pledging- Lauren Gibson
Reducing Demand for Wildlife Products: Are we there yet?- Diogo Verissimo
Coexistence Project: Upscaling the analysis and management of human-wildlife relationships- Silvio Marchini
Organizational Collaboration within Maine’s Atlantic Salmon Governance Structure- Melissa Flye
You can visit the Institute for Conservation Research (ICR)’s website and type in a researcher and find everything they have published. These are great sources you can use in your papers and projects.
You can also use the San Diego Zoo Global Library for sources as well.
I watched multiple of the videos, and the majority of the presenters said to email them. If you have questions or want to learn more, please reach out to them, or other authors. Most are willing to help you and talk to you. They are passionate about their research and love talking about it, especially with students who want to learn more!
Case Study Review:
Visualization- make sure your graphs are clear rather than complicated. Know your audience, explain things to ensure clarity. Different audiences will understand different types of information and data. Who is looking at your results? How will you present it to them?
Questionnaire- Make sure you ask all the questions you want answers to. If you are missing information explain why you are missing it. Could your questionnaire be worded more clearly? Was there sampling bias? Was there an issue with the methods used? Was data collection not completed?
To ensure people are being truthful you can ask the same question just worded differently, just make sure you do not over do it.
Statistics & Measurement- The ICR Community Engagement team uses the 5 point scale to make the results more straight forward. More labels allow misinterpretation of the scale, slightly agree vs agree example. You want to be as accurate as possible.
Social science impacts citizen science.
Measuring direct behavior is a major barrier to understanding and improving conservation behavior change. And something we need creative ideas to improve!
Simple solutions to larger problems- solutions do not have to be complicated. The buoy tie off versus anchor example to protect reefs. Does their need to be more government funding or assistance?
Gifting- part of illegal wildlife use/trade. Used as bribes, a status symbol, people may just hold onto them rather than using some illegal wildlife items. Are there political or economic impacts playing a role?
Survey Incentives- depends on context. Incentives tend to be utilized in the U.S, whereas they are discouraged in Kenya (in the example given, a community-level incentive was used - donation to the conservancy operations fund, which was then directed toward school desks)
Dillman, D. A., Smyth, J. D., & Christian, L. M. (2014). Internet, phone, mail, and mixed-mode surveys: the tailored design method. John Wiley & Sons.
Good luck on your SIPs! If you have questions, reach out to Kirstie, Alex, Heather, or myself.
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