Revealing research preferences 409


FIG. 2 Difference in mean score (± 95% confidence interval) of questionnaire respondents that identified as natural scientist, both natural and social scientist, or social scientist across all six factors (Table 1). Asterisks indicate differences significant at P , 0.05 (*) and P , 0.001 (***).


the limitations of applying this binary distinction. The existence of marked within-group variability across the multidimensional factors of this questionnaire raises questions about the extent to which the categories of natural scientist and social scientist offer meaningful distinctions in positioning researchers in the field of conservation research. Although these terms remain prominent in organizations such as the Society for Conservation Biology (Bennett et al., 2016), our findings suggest thatmore multidimensionalmeasures of researcher diversity would be useful. Further examination of what the self-assigned categories


of natural scientist, social scientist and both mean to the questionnaire respondents may help elucidate how sense of researcher identity provided by these categories emerges through disciplinary training and how this influences philosophical positions. Demographic data suggested that the majority of respondents entered the field from single disciplinary contexts. Specifically, biology, botany, com- puter science, ecology, mathematics and zoology were prominent entry routes for those identifying as natural scientists, but also those identifying as both natural and social scientists. Further exploration of the ways that early training of conservation researchers reinforces particular philosophies, methods and values in examining conservation problems would be a fruitful avenue of future research. Drawing on the approach developed here, further


research could apply this questionnaire to analyse the composition of both large and small research groups in a range of settings. It could be used to understand research preference diversity within a collaborative research project, or it could be applied as a longitudinal measure, to see if individual tendencies change over time in response to edu- cation or experience in interdisciplinary collaborations. In addition to being an analytical tool, the questionnaire


and the personal profiles that can be produced from it could have application as tools for building researcher capacity


in interdisciplinary collaboration. In line with previous scholarship on the toolbox approach (Eigenbrode et al., 2007;O’Rourke & Crowley, 2013), the questionnaire pre- sented here could be used alongside carefully facilitated dialogue to support structured philosophical conversation. Workshops would allow respondents to both interrogate their own results and question the ways in which different preferences may shape their research collaborations. In this way, participants can learn from each other about why different approaches to research matter in conservation science. The application of the questionnaire as a tool for re-


flection and facilitated dialogue, however, requires careful consideration about the ways in which different conserva- tion researchers will relate to the questionnaire as one approach (among many) to responding to the previously highlighted conceptual challenges of multi-, inter-, and trans-disciplinary work in conservation. Although the quan- titative and categorical nature of the questionnaire is likely to appeal to those researchers who favour more positivist approaches, interpretive social scientists may feel that the questionnaire process and results are unable to reflect the complex philosophical position that they and those around them bring to research in practice (for further exploration of research philosophies in conservation, see Moon & Blackman, 2014). The questionnaire as a tool for reflection and dialogue will therefore need to be applied with care to take into account these diverse positions and many others. The results of the questionnaire are intended to be indi-


cations of fluid tendencies within researcher preferences that can and will change over time. In this way, the ques- tionnaire provides no normative position on where any individual or group positions sit. It is descriptive rather than prescriptive, and is not intended to create new dual- isms between the extremes of different factors. For these reasons, the results are intended to be displayed as numer- ical positions in a spider diagram, along a spectrum, rather than assigned as a fixed category. Although the contested


Oryx, 2021, 55(3), 404–411 © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S003060531900067X


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164