Choyero ethnobiological knowledge survey.
Description
In 2017 and 2018, seventy-one individuals (33 females and 38 males) from 40 ranches across three Choyero communities in the Sierra de la Giganta of Baja California Sur, Mexico were presented an ethnobiological knowledge assessment task. As a first step of the task, individuals took a vision acuity test using “tumbling E” eye charts presented on a laptop computer (see TumblingE_EyeChart.pptx), a robust and easy to use diagnostic tool that is practical for populations with innumerate or analphabetic participants (Messina et al. 2006). From this test we derived a visual acuity score [1,…11]. A higher score indicates better visual acuity. The ethnobiological knowledge assessment task presented a sequence of 137 slides on a laptop computer featuring images of 87 plants and 50 animals (see EthnobiologicalKnowledgeAssessmentTool.pptx). The order of items presented was varied among participants with about half of participants seeing items in reversed order. Assessments of ethnobiological knowledge were conducted in Spanish in the privacy of individual homes and occurred as part of a larger set of household interviews regarding ranching demography and lifestyles. These household interviews additionally informed us of individuals’ educational achievement, their ranch affiliation, and community membership. For each of 137 plant and animal images presented in sequence, the researcher (ES) asked the participant whether they recognized the item in the image. If the participant answered affirmatively, the researcher asked the follow-up question about what the item is called. Responses were recorded and coded “correctly named” if matching locally appropriate culturally correct names used for species identification (see Macfarlan et al., 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/kjds8jztzv.1). Here we provide raw data generated by seventy-one participants (33 females and 38 male). We also include a codebook that explains data types and meanings. We also provide the .pptx files for tumbling E eye charts and the ethnobiological knowledge assessment task used to generate the data in this survey. Last, we provide details of statistical models for investigating the development of Choyero ethnobiological knoweldge across the lifespan. These statistical models can be replicated using STATA/IC 16.1 (Rabe-Hesketh & Skrondal, 2012) and the associated STATA DO and STATA Data files provided.