Interview Surveys for Saola: General Guidelines
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Interview surveys for Saola: General Guidelines Nicholas Wilkinson1 Photos by: Serda Ozbenian, Nicholas Wilkinson, Samuel Turvey, Vo Thanh Hung. Saola artwork from Aur village, A Vuong commune, Tay Giang, Quang Nam 1 Dept. of Geography, University of Cambridge, UK. [email protected] 1 Acknowledgements: This guide was produced with funding from the UK Government through the Darwin Initiative project on endemic Annamite Ungulates (www.http://darwin.defra.gov.uk/project/17008/). The project was a collaboration between the Department of Geography of the University of Cambridge, UK, with the WWF Greater Mekong Programme and Vinh University in Vietnam. The Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) at the University of Kent (UK) was another partner in the project and provided important indirect input to this guide. Additional support for work that went towards the development of this guide came from the Ocean Park Foundation of Hong Kong through the Zoological Society of London’s project “Identifying priority areas for conservation of saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis) using local ecological knowledge” In writing this guide I have also built on earlier experience on interview surveys for Saola which were supported by WWF-US, through the Species Action Fund (WWF-SAF); by Conservation International’s Center for Applied Biodiversity Science and by the American Museum of Natural History’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (AMNH-CBC), with funding from the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund (DWCF) and the Sea World-Busch Gardens (SWBG) Conservation Fund. I would also like to thank the Forest Protection Departments of Thua Thien Hue and Quang Nam Province, and the management boards of Bach Ma, Pu Mat and Vu Quang National Parks, and of the two Pu Huong Nature Reserves for their help in these surveys For general advice on interview survey technique I would like to thank Professor Nigel Leader- Williams of Cambridge University, Dr Rajindra Puri and Dr Helen Newing of Kent University, Dr Cao Tien Trung of Vinh University and Dr Samuel Turvey of the Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London. I would also like to thank the members of the IUCN-SSC Saola Working Group and, especially, J. Will Duckworth for comments on an earlier draft of this guide. 2 Contents The Mysterious Saola. ............................................................................................................................. 5 Our sources of information about the Saola. ......................................................................................... 6 What do we need to know about Saola and why? ................................................................................. 6 Interviews for Saola Conservation: the series of manuals. ..................................................................... 6 What (and who) is this guide for? ........................................................................................................... 7 Standardization ................................................................................................................................... 7 Encouragement ................................................................................................................................... 7 Education ............................................................................................................................................ 7 What use are interview data? ................................................................................................................. 7 First, a warning:................................................................................................................................... 7 Is it scientific to use interview data? .................................................................................................. 8 Some reading ...................................................................................................................................... 9 The three main rules ............................................................................................................................. 10 1: Avoid believing .............................................................................................................................. 10 2: Record the problems .................................................................................................................... 10 3: Collect lots of records. .................................................................................................................. 11 Three kinds of data-level problems: ..................................................................................................... 11 1) Non-Independence: ...................................................................................................................... 11 2) Systematic Bias ............................................................................................................................. 12 3) Interviewer problems ................................................................................................................... 12 Thinking about data-level problems: .................................................................................................... 13 3 kinds of mis-information. ................................................................................................................... 14 10 sources of misinformation. .............................................................................................................. 14 2 kinds of knowledge ............................................................................................................................ 15 3 pieces of information which make up a record. ................................................................................ 15 3 basic methods, ................................................................................................................................... 16 Method 1: Semi-structured interview .............................................................................................. 16 Method 2: Ungulate Last sightings Survey ....................................................................................... 16 Method 3: Reading past reports ....................................................................................................... 17 How to conduct interview surveys – some practical guidelines. .......................................................... 18 3 Three Guidelines for designing interview surveys ............................................................................ 18 1) Think about where to go. .......................................................................................................... 18 2) Do community maps. ................................................................................................................ 18 3) Report what you do, not just what you find. ............................................................................ 18 Conducting Interviews: ......................................................................................................................... 18 Guidelines for interview technique ...................................................................................................... 20 1) Introduce yourself and your aims. ............................................................................................ 20 2) Promise confidentiality (as far as you can). .............................................................................. 21 3) Get the key information as soon as possible. ........................................................................... 21 4) Do your homework – and use your knowledge. ....................................................................... 22 5) Don’t fill in the form during the interview; it is not a questionnaire. ...................................... 22 6) Avoid ‘Leading questions’ ......................................................................................................... 23 7) Try and get first-hand records. ................................................................................................. 24 8) People are going to lie to you. Accept it. .................................................................................. 24 8) There are a lot of problems with group interviews. ................................................................. 25 9) Alcohol breaks boundaries, ...................................................................................................... 25 10) Don’t be polite on the form .................................................................................................... 25 11) Don’t always be satisfied with the first answer, or with attempts not to answer. ................ 26 12) Be aware of the context of the interview, and who else is present. ...................................... 26 13) Ask around. ............................................................................................................................. 26 14: Ask around about the same records. ...................................................................................... 27 15 Beware of inconsistent names, spellings, and differences from standard national word usage ...................................................................................................................................................... 28 References