”Månen bodde i kroppen på en stor shaman. När shamanen dog kunde hon fritt vandra omkring på himlavalvet. Men i stället återvände hon till jorden för att äta av shamanens ben som bränts till aska. När shamanens släktingar såg detta började de skjuta pilar mot månen. Men de föll verkningslösa mot marken. Månen försökte undkomma pilarna genom att gömma sig bland molnen. Men en sista pil träffade månen och henne blod droppade ner på jorden. Det är var från dessa droppar som Yanomamis föddes.”
Data Collection by Indigenous People (Image 1)
Researchers conducting a study in the Rupununi region of Guyana recruited and trained local native people like these to help gather data. They found that the native people were just as capable of systematically recording accurate data as trained researchers, dispelling a theory that some scientists have that the cultural and educational differences between the two are too great for data collected by the former to be reliable. (Date of Image: 2008) [Image 1 of 7 related images. See Image 2.]
More about this Image
Researchers from Stanford University working on an environmental study in the Rupununi region of Guyana found that native people who participated in the collection of research data were just as capable of systematically recording accurate data as trained scientists. This finding disproves a theory held by some scientists that the cultural and educational differences between trained scientists and native peoples are too great for data collected by the latter to be reliable.
The purpose of the 5-year study, which covered a 48,000-square-kilometer area of the Amazon basin, was to determine the state of the vertebrate animal populations living there and how they are affected by human activities. The area, a forest-savanna ecosystem, is occupied by the Makushi and Wapishana peoples.
José Fragoso, an ecologist at Stanford and lead for the study, and colleagues knew it would be difficult to gather necessary data over such a large area alone--particulary in remote locations, so they enlisted some of the local population to help. "If I had tried to use only scientists, postdocs and graduate students to do the work, it would not have been accomplished," said Fragoso.
The researchers hired and trained more than 340 villagers as technicians, to collect field data in a consistent and systematic way. They were shown how to walk a transect through an area, record sightings and signs of animals, and note which plants the animals fed on, then marking their observations on a map.
To validate the accuracy of their data, the researchers had a different team of technicians or researchers walk a transect a second time, checking to be sure that the recorded data was correct and the animal sightings credible. Technicians also filled out monthly questionnaires about their work and performed statistical analyses for patterns of discrepancy in the data.
Fragoso found that data collected by technicians living in communities with strong leadership, and that are part of a larger indigenous organization such as an association of villages, were the most consistently accurate. Technicians from villages unaffiliated or loosely affiliated with such an association, where there was less oversight, fabricated data more commonly. Also, whether or not a technician was interested in the actual research as opposed to just a salary was a factor in accuracy.
In the end, Fragoso found that on average, the indigenous technicians were just as capable at systematically recording accurate data as a trained scientist. In fact, their ability to detect animals and their signs was probably even better.
"This is the first study at a really large scale that shows that consistently valid field data can be collected by trained, indigenous peoples and it can be done really well," Fragoso said. "We have measured the error and discovered that 28 percent of villages experienced some data fabrication. This originated from about 5 percent (18 out of 335) of technicians fabricating data, which may not be much different than what occurs in the community of scientists."
This research was supported by a Biocomplexity Coupled Human-Natural Systems grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant, titled "Biodiversity Dynamics and Land-Use Changes in the Amazon: Multi-Scale Interactions Between Ecological Systems and Resource-Use Decisions by Indigenous Peoples," awarded to Fragos, the principal investigator. Further information about the study is available in the Stanford University news story, Can indigenous peoples be relied on to gather reliable environmental data that meet the standards of science? >> http://news.stanford.edu/news/2011/october/amazon-indigenous-technicians-111311.html (x)
Credit: Jose Manuel Fragoso
Image 2:
Mikushi indigenous people being trained to use a compass in the Amazon basin region of Guyana. Researchers from Stanford University working on an animal population study hired indigenous people as technicians to help gather and record data. The researchers found that native people were just as capable of systematically recording accurate data as trained researchers. (Date of Image: 2007-2010) [Image 2 of 7 related images. See Image 3.]
Image 3:
Mikushi indigenous people learn to use maps of their region in the Amazon basin of Guyana. Researchers from Stanford University working on an animal population study hired indigenous people as technicians to help gather and record data. The researchers found that native people were just as capable of systematically recording accurate data as trained researchers. (Date of Image: 2007-2010) [Image 3 of 7 related images. See Image 4.]
Image 4:
A Mikushi indigenous person opening a transect trail in the Amazon basin region of Guyana. Researchers from Stanford University working on an animal population study hired indigenous people as technicians to help gather and record data. The researchers found that native people were just as capable of systematically recording accurate data as trained researchers. (Date of Image: 2007-2010) [Image 4 of 7 related images. See Image 5.]
Image 5:
An iguana, one of over two-hundred animal species recorded by indigenous people hired as technicians to work on an animal population study in the Amazon basin region of Guyana. Researchers from Stanford University conducting the study found that native people were just as capable of systematically recording accurate data as trained researchers. (Date of Image: 2007-2010) [Image 5 of 7 related images. See Image 7. Sorry: Image 6 is lost]
Image 7:
A toucan, one of over two-hundred animal species recorded by indigenous people hired as technicians to work on an animal population study in the Amazon basin region of Guyana. Researchers from Stanford University conducting the study found that native people were just as capable of systematically recording accurate data as trained researchers. (Date of Image: 1995-1999) [Image 7 of 7 related images. Back to Image 1.]
Video from http://news.stanford.edu/news/2011/october/amazon-indigenous-technicians-111311.html: Stanford ecologist José Fragoso talks about working with indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin and how their spiritual beliefs affect the ecosystem.
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The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is an American private research university located in Stanford, California on an 8,180-acre (3,310 ha) campus near Palo Alto, California, United States. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately 20 miles (32 km) northwest of San Jose and 37 miles (60 km) southeast of San Francisco.
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