Manipulative experiments with in situ human subjects: Ethics, logistics, and experimental design.

Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology. March 28-April2, 2006, Vancouver, BC.

David G. Casagrande, D. Hope, E. Farley-Metzger, W. Cook, S. Yabiku, and C. Redman

abstract

Collaborating with researchers from other disciplines during the “problem definition” phase of policy formation can enhance anthropological influence on public policy. We present a collaboration between social scientists, ecologists and policy-makers that includes an experimental manipulation of neighborhood landscapes aimed at developing better water management policies in metropolitan Phoenix , Arizona . The research includes theoretical integration of disciplines through a human ecosystem approach that explicitly includes information flow. We present data from interviews in which policy-makers and the general public express conflicting definitions of water-supply problems. These data will inform experimental hypotheses and subsequent policy formulation.