Qualitative methods for ecologists and conservation scientists

Sutherland, William J; Dicks, Lynn V.; Everard, Mark; Geneletti, Davide

Abstract

© 2018 The Authors. Methods in Ecology and Evolution © 2018 British Ecological Society Conservation of biodiversity involves dealing with problems caused by humans, by applying solutions that comprise actions by humans. Understanding human attitudes, knowledge and behaviour are thus central to conservation research and practice. The special feature brings together authors from a range of disciplines (ecology, human geography, political science, land economy, management) to examine a set of qualitative techniques used in conservation research: Interviews, Focus group discussion, The Nominal Group Technique and multi-criteria decision analysis. These techniques can be used for a range of purposes—most notably to understand people's perspectives, values and attitudes and to gather information about approaches to management of species, ecosystems or natural resources. Incorporating human values, perceptions, judgements and knowledge into conservation decision making is an important role for qualitative techniques; they provide robust means for submitting this information or knowledge as evidence. The articles in this special feature highlight a worrying extent of poor justification and inadequate reporting of qualitative methods in the conservation literature. To improve and encourage greater use of these techniques in conservation science, we urge improved reporting of rationales and methods, along with innovation, adaptation and further testing of the methods themselves.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 8, 2017
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Jan 11, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 11, 2019
• Journal: Methods in Ecology and Evolution
• Electronic ISSN: 2041-210X
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 7-9
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12956
• Keywords: expert elicitation, focus groups, multi-criteria decision analysis, nominal group technique, policy; making, qualitative interviews, qualitative research
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/872217
• Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/2041-210X.12956/full
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: [Sutherland, W. J., Dicks, L. V., Everard, M. and Geneletti, D. (2018) Qualitative methods for ecologists and conservation scientists. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 9. pp. 7-9. ISSN 2041-210X], which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/2041-210X.12956/full. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
• Contract Date: Jan 11, 2018