Gregory+Niguidula+-+Ethical+Conundrums

Fortunately, this project presents relatively few potential ethical problems. The only part of the project where these might occur is while interacting with the "human subjects" that need to be interviewed. As I say in my proposal, there is no need for deception. However, caution does need to be taken in the way the project is presented. When introducing myself, probably through e-mail, I will have to explain to the interviewees that they are being involved in a research project involving the social effects of invasive species, but I do not want to influence their thinking too much. This is why I think it would be a bad idea to mention in the introduction e-mail the idea of desired natures and my hypothesis that they are negatively affecting the efficacy of invasive species policy. This runs the risk of changing what they think about the concept before I even get a chance to interview them. Initial reactions to the idea will be far more useful to me because I am attempting to find out what the underlying assumptions are. These are harder to hide when someone is caught off guard by a new idea. However, the fact that I am hiding this crucial part of the project from potential interviewees will mean that I will have to word the e-mail extra carefully. It will be made clear to them that I am interested in what they think about invasive species and the current management policies in place so they will not be able to say I lied.