Conducting Field Work Remotely
I am presenting this blogpost hoping that some researchers might find it useful--especially, females who want to remain fieldworkers while assuming caretaking responsibilities. At one point [~2006], I was unable to travel far from my home base but wanted to conduct a project in Brazil. I collaborated with a Brazilian colleague--a [then] young professor, Julio Cesar Bicca-Marques, who suspected hybridization between two species of howler monkeys at one of his study sites. We brainstormed, deciding that I would write a proposal to obtain funding. My colleague commented on the first draft, I incorporated his suggestions and revised the proposal, and we were awarded funding by two conservation organizations. My colleague conducted the research with two of his graduate students, drew some amazing maps, took some amazing photographs, & collected the data. We collaborated on data analysis. I wrote the first draft of the resulting paper after which my colleague revised and submitted the final version. Our paper was accepted for publication, and we were both satisfied with the order of authorship and assignment of corresponding author.* This procedure, or, some variant of it, might work for others with limited mobility. I do not intend to suggest that one can build a career on these sorts of accommodations; however, intermittently, or, for brief periods of time, such arrangements, or, some variant of same, might work very well.
Bicca-Maarques JC, et al. (2008) Survey of Alouatta caraya, the black-and-gold howler monkey, and Alouatta guariba clamitans, the brown howler monkey, in a contact zone, State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil: evidence for hybridization. Primates 49(4): 246-252.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10329-008-0091-4
*At the time, I justified being final & corresponding author on the basis of my having designed a highly original survey method and on the basis of having written a successful proposal. However, in retrospect, I think a strong case could be made that it would have been appropriate for Bicca-Marques to have been assigned those roles. As an aside, he went on to conduct additional work on this topic and published the research that I did not participate in.
I am presenting this blogpost hoping that some researchers might find it useful--especially, females who want to remain fieldworkers while assuming caretaking responsibilities. At one point [~2006], I was unable to travel far from my home base but wanted to conduct a project in Brazil. I collaborated with a Brazilian colleague--a [then] young professor, Julio Cesar Bicca-Marques, who suspected hybridization between two species of howler monkeys at one of his study sites. We brainstormed, deciding that I would write a proposal to obtain funding. My colleague commented on the first draft, I incorporated his suggestions and revised the proposal, and we were awarded funding by two conservation organizations. My colleague conducted the research with two of his graduate students, drew some amazing maps, took some amazing photographs, & collected the data. We collaborated on data analysis. I wrote the first draft of the resulting paper after which my colleague revised and submitted the final version. Our paper was accepted for publication, and we were both satisfied with the order of authorship and assignment of corresponding author.* This procedure, or, some variant of it, might work for others with limited mobility. I do not intend to suggest that one can build a career on these sorts of accommodations; however, intermittently, or, for brief periods of time, such arrangements, or, some variant of same, might work very well.
Bicca-Maarques JC, et al. (2008) Survey of Alouatta caraya, the black-and-gold howler monkey, and Alouatta guariba clamitans, the brown howler monkey, in a contact zone, State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil: evidence for hybridization. Primates 49(4): 246-252.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10329-008-0091-4
*At the time, I justified being final & corresponding author on the basis of my having designed a highly original survey method and on the basis of having written a successful proposal. However, in retrospect, I think a strong case could be made that it would have been appropriate for Bicca-Marques to have been assigned those roles. As an aside, he went on to conduct additional work on this topic and published the research that I did not participate in.