Ethnobotanical Research in the Phu Thai Villages

This is an account of a research expedition to NE Thailand to a set of villages in which the ethnic group known as the Phu Thai reside.  The research team consisted of Dr. Will McClatchey as the lead scientist.  He was assisted by 19 Lao students who are attending Khon Kaen University.  Each student was trained in doing basic facilitation for this exercise.

The preliminary research on this project was supported by a grant from the Thailand Fulbright foundation ( www.fulbrightthai.org).

An extensive description of this research project, called Exploring Cognitive Ethnobotanical Classification Systems used by Ethnic Minorities of NE Thailand, is available on the following links.  These links describe the research objectives and methodology, including detailed procedures that are followed during the research.

• Thai language version (PDF)
• English language version

The photos shown below illustrate the activities in a few of the villages that cooperated in this experiment.  A simple commentary is included so that the photos can be matched to the research procedures.  Please consult the detailed research procedures for the actual activities.

Lao Research Assistants

	The students research assistants went to the Phu Thai villages in pairs.  Each group had the same task of getting village members to list all the plant species that they know.

Study Area

Typical village scenes in the Phu Thai region.

Data Collection

Phase 1 (Village Knowledge) 

The general objective of this part of the study is to determine how many plants are known by different age-groups in each village.  This is done by having each group list all the plant species that they know, using the local names for the species.

One person is often designated as the "scribe" to write down the names.  This group of young boys is very competitive with a group of young girls in the village.	Time is important since on of the goals is to get as many plant names as possible.  A division of effort, and cross checking, are important strategies to getting a high number.
The young girls are well organized.  They work well as a team.	The young girls work at one table, while a nearby table has older people from the village doing the same exercise.
Each group has a student research assistant as a facilitator.	This group of young girls sent several members out into the village to scout for plants.  One of the scouts is returning to report to the group.
Group pictures are a good way to link the researchers and the village participants.  Trissa McClatchey, from the research team, stands among this group of young girls that reported a particularly high number of plant species.	The older members of the village were serious participants, too. They shared their knowledge with each other and the research assistants as they recorded their knowledge of plant species.
Older men and women recorded their knowledge separately so that gender differences can be evaluated for both young and older members of the village.	In the end, each group produced a stack of cards. Each card has the name of a plant.  When the stacks are added together, it represents the number of plant species known by the village.

Gratitude to the Village

The research team always provides lunch for the village participants as a way to thanking them for their participation in the experiment.

Links to: Phase 2 (Plant Collection), Phase 3 (Voucher Preparation), and Phase 4 (Analysis)