The Influence of Visual Stimuli in Ethnobotanical Data Collection Using the Listing Task Method

Abstract

The listing task, a method used in social and behavioral sciences, is frequently used in ethnobotanical research to construct folk taxonomies and select relevant items for subsequent research. The objective of the present study was to determine whether visual stimuli are associated with responses to the theme “plants” or if context influences the answers. Interviews were conducted with 400 women in Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil, in four different locations: three with a visible presence of plants (a plant store, a supermarket, and a public plaza) and one with no plants (a street corner in the center of the city). The women were asked to name plants. Analysis indicates that visual stimuli influenced responses and that this is more marked in the plant store than in the other locations. The plants cited most often—roses, orchids, ferns, violets, and daisies—were, with little variation, the same in all the locales studied.