Has anyone ever attempted to pay local researchers for observations?
In historical research this is not uncommon. If I don’t have the funding to go to do research in the Archive of the Indies, there are professional researchers in Seville that I can pay to go to the archive and make digital copies of the documents I need. I can pay them through PayPal and they can upload the images to DropBox.
Given the cost of biological research–not to mention recent threats to science funding in the U.S.–I can imagine an expert on Ecuadorian centipedes making the calculation that it would be cheaper to pay local researchers to make observations than it would be to travel to Ecuador and make the observations herself.
Is this a “thing”–as they say–in biological research?
It is a thing in some situations. But it can be very difficult to do do to tax documentation, contractor rules, etc. I’ve known a few folks who looked into doing similar things, but gave up after they learned all the hoops they would have to jump through in regards to their university, tax filing, grant reporting, etc. I do know a few folks who just decided to pay small amounts out of pocket for some things like this.
I have heard stories of how back in the day, herpetologists would just roll into town in a variety of countries and set up shop in the town square or wherever. They’d tell whatever kids were hanging around that they’d pay them a certain amount/head or more for cool/rare stuff for whatever lizards/snakes/etc. they knew about. As the stories go, as soon as the kids found out about the deal, the herpetologists would be swamped later in the day, handing out cash to kids with specimens (and who better to know where all the local stuff was than the kids). I’m sure this wouldn’t fly for many reasons now, but I would guess that in the eras before permits and close expense tracking, this is how a lot of collections were created. Back in the 18th and 19th centuries at least, highly skilled scientific collectors would make their living selling collections back to museums.
In academia at least, this can be addressed by formal collaborators. So you probably wouldn’t pay them outright, but you might apply for grants together, purchase supplies together, and publish together.
Several yeas ago I was doing field work in a village in Papua New Guinea when two American semi-professional photographers arrived and offered the local kids the equivalent of fifteen cents for each specimen they brought in, but only if they chose to photograph it. They were brought hundreds of creatures, many of them injured, and photographed a few dozen. They got great photos, but it was sad.
I’m not even close to knowledgeable about research stuff, but I would worry about fraud. If the idea is to pay locals for pictures of specimens, I think it would be pretty easy to fake it. Photoshop, ai images, or altering similar specimens to look like rare counterparts (painting markings on or something) are some ways I can think of.
Paying someone from one university to another one to outsource field work has to many legal and administrative hurdles. Despite this people are really connected and ask for a lot of favors. I was recently collecting some samples to send abroad while doing my own fieldwork because it wasnt really a lot of extra work and somebody needed them for their research.
Thanks for all these wonderful answers! The legal/admin issues seem significant, as do the quality of data and ethics issues. I can think of a few ways around some of them. But the most practical one seems like the one proposed by jrp01: reach out to other INaturalist users and offer to collaborate/share/barter. You find Ecuadorian centipedes for me, I find Argentine lepidoptera for you.