Talk:Issues in Interdisciplinarity 2020-21/Evidence in the Production and Consumption of the Palm Oil Boom

Discussion
Well done everyone!!! We're finished!AmelieZ (discuss • contribs) 11:59, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

I just added a small sentence introducing disciplinary evidence in the palm oil sector to the introduction. Tell me what you guys think. Liveramasaff (discuss • contribs) 10:48, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
 * I like it, looks great! Bfevidal (discuss • contribs) 10:53, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

Good news! I managed to change our title on the actual wikibook page!! Bfevidal (discuss • contribs) 10:40, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Yay! That's great - I am glad that we were able to figure that out :) Verysmallroom (discuss • contribs) 11:46, 14 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Thank you for changing it! We did good work today and we managed to cut enough words!AmelieZ (discuss • contribs) 11:44, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

Hi! I just got the word count down to below 1200, and I think at this point we have a bit more flexibility with words than we did before. I think that we should add a more obvious type of evidence for the second economics paragraph, and also maybe some kind of part in the conclusion where we try to integrate the evidence to suggest a policy solution (?). I'm not sure if we have the word allowance for that but I think it would be a really good way to show how interdisciplinary research comes together and how you can overcome tensions? Verysmallroom (discuss • contribs) 21:26, 13 December 2020 (UTC)
 * In relation to our discussion in the WhatsApp groupchat, I added the sentence at the end, and deleted a few more words. Please let me know what you think Verysmallroom (discuss • contribs) 21:51, 13 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes I would agree! I like what you guys did with the new intro, much much better!Bfevidal (discuss • contribs) 10:43, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

I think I have just spotted a typo in the introduction paragraph: adopted as opposed to adapted. Liveramasaff (discuss • contribs) 18:40, 13 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Thank you for correcting it! AmelieZ (discuss • contribs) 10:55, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

Hola! Didn't want to cut stuff without everyone else agreeing so I just put a line through bits I think can be cut out. We can discuss in the call tomorrow if you agree. I've also suggested different versions for the last paragraph to make it shorter. Bfevidal (discuss • contribs) 21:21, 12 December 2020 (UTC)

Hey guys. Just added another point to the tensions section about irrational v. rational behaviour in economics and sociology. Could you guys maybe have a read through to see if it makes sense? Also I noticed that some of the disciplines don't mention the actual findings of the separate disciplines and I think it might be useful to have just a sentence in each to briefly explain the findings. Let me know what you think. Bfevidal (discuss • contribs) 19:01, 12 December 2020 (UTC)

Also, as we have only just realised that we need to utilise the discussions feature to show how we organised our work and keep track of our individual contributions, I would suggest that we add the notes that we took on the OneNote to this page under each of the different sub-sections. Verysmallroom (discuss • contribs) 19:05, 12 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Hi! I am going to look at the OneNote now and add what was said on there so our progress is represented. AmelieZ (discuss • contribs) 19:05, 12 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Okay great - I saw that you added the notes from the OneNote so I just reformatted mine and added the notes that I took in my notebook and uploaded them to the OneNote, hopefully this should be fine for evidence of our work leading up to our contributions on the page :) Verysmallroom (discuss • contribs) 21:45, 12 December 2020 (UTC)

Hey guys. I know we said we would cut down each others work rather than our own. I wanted to suggest that for my section (ecology) two delete the last paragraph because it isn't as detailed as the first one. What do you think? Bfevidal (discuss •contribs) 11:06, 12 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Hi - I agree that it might be a good way of reducing the word-count, especially considering that your first paragraph does get across a lot of the evidence which is used in the discipline of ecology, so should be sufficient to give an idea of how evidence in the discipline is collected and how it related to the issue. I suggest that you should do it.

Also, we need to contact someone about the fact that we are unable to change the name of the page, although we have decided to change the title of our Wikibook page Verysmallroom (discuss • contribs) 13:05, 12 December 2020 (UTC)
 * I've emailed James but I'm not sure if he will reply over the weekend. Should we maybe email Nikola as well? Bfevidal (discuss • contribs) 19:01, 12 December 2020 (UTC)
 * I will email Nikola just to be sure and I will you keep you updated if she answers. AmelieZ (discuss • contribs) 20:08, 12 December 2020 (UTC)

14/12/2020
Final meeting before handing the chapter
 * we still need to cut a few words out
 * rereading all of it for grammar and spelling mistakes
 * discussing how we have to turn it in / how to download as a pdf

13/12/2020

 * looking at how we can reduce the wordcount
 * suggest cutting down second paragraph of nutrition as it discusses the findings of the discipline rather than the evidence itself
 * trying to rephrase tensions to cut down on words
 * made citations more cohesive, putting them at the end of a word
 * working on linking the the paragraphs together more
 * scheduled one more meeting for tomorrow morning
 * in the interim, all will look over the page, try and reduce the number of words and make sure we're happy with the page as it is

11/12/2020

 * goal: reduce words and expand on tensions
 * Liveramasaff made additions to the OneNote to the tensions part - with regards to the economic tensions, which we then added
 * Verysmallroom suggested to modify the title changing the word 'crisis' to 'boom' > focus the issue as impacts of the increasing dependency on palm oil for nutritional, economic... etc reasons over the past few decades
 * agreed to meet again at 12 on Sunday - on Zoom, to go over details and make sure that we are within the word count for when we turn it in

9/12/2020

 * Bfevidal and AmelieZ presented comments from the meeting with Nicola
 * Nikola's comments: Consider changing the title as evidence from nutrition doesn't claim that palm oil issue is a crisis, for tensions focus more on the methodology of different disciplines make sure to focus on evidence, try to tie the paragraphs describing evidence in different disciplines together
 * Brainstormed more tensions between the disciplines that we could discuss
 * Agreed to meet again on Friday at 14:00 over zoom

8/12/2020

 * Meeting with Nikola, attended by Bfevidal and AmelieZ during office hours

7/12/2020

 * Brainstorming idea for the tensions aspect of the course
 * Struggling to find tensions due the nature of the research and evidence in each of the disciplines
 * We agree that each of the disciplines looks at very different aspects of the issue of the Oil Palm Boom, and therefore it is difficult to compare or find tensions within the evidence
 * Deciding to contact seminar leader Nicola to ask for her advice regarding how we present the tensions
 * Bfevidal will email Nikola to arrange a meeting during her Office Hours

3/12/2020

 * deciding we will all finish our parts by Monday so we can then decide on the tensions we will address

26/11/2020

 * Working together in our seminar
 * Deciding on the disciplines which we think are most closely related to the issue of the Palm Oil boom
 * We think that the connection to Economics and Economics is most obvious and very important to address, but also need to come up with other ideas
 * Suggest that we should also look at the nutritional impact of the Palm Oil Boom - whether the consumption of palm oil is healthy/nutritionally sustainable
 * Decide to split Economics into two subsections, which will each be investigated by one group member, and then the other two group members chose between ecology and nutritional science
 * Verysmallroom finds an academic paper which mentions evidence collection for the social aspect of Palm Oil Production - suggests instead of having a great economic section, looking at four disciplines - sociology, economics, nutritional science and ecology
 * Agree as a group that each group member will do some research and find sources to support their sub-section, as well as starting draft some ideas
 * Liveramasaff will work on Economics, Verysmallroom will research sociology, AmelieZ Nutrition and Bfevidal will cover ecology

20/11/2020
Wiki-workshop!


 * Went over our thoughts on history, evidence, truth and power we quickly agreed that evidence is the issue we mutually found most pertinent
 * Then began discussions on current global issues to deduce a subject.
 * Inadvertently focused on environmental sustainability/ the different ways in which humans are posing threats to the longevity of the natural environment, eventually coming to the palm oil industry
 * Decided the way in which the different disciplines, relevant to the current oil palm boom, collect and present their evidence has significant implications as to how the palm oil problem is tackled.
 * Hence, evidence in the production and consumption of the palm oil boom became our chosen title

Economics

 * Economic evidence is both qualitative and quantitive, when analysing product markets (eg palm oil industry) evidence tends to be more quantitative.
 * Conduct empirical research to build models which acts as basis of evidence within the discipline
 * Distinguish between the different models employed in micro and macro
 * Potential macroeconomic indicators to go into more depth about: international trade, domestic consumption, investment (both from abroad and domestic). Most evidence/ importance placed on imports and exports of the palm oil so focus here.
 * Microeconomics look at how impact on different stakeholders is quantified/ how they are grouped. Perhaps mention how the economic evidence of these individual groups have broader social implications
 * Look at spott.org and their methodology for compiling evidence in the palm oil sector

Tensions between Economics and other disciplines:
 * Stark differences between methodology in economics compared with nutrition and ecology: economic modelling vs collection of raw data. How these different ways of forming evidence determines the truth the disciplines convey respectively i.e. constructivist vs positivist
 * Reductive model of human nature (rational economic man) conflicts directly with evidence in sociology.
 * Economists assume rational decision making/ this is underpinning of models yet sociologists appreciate that we rarely ever act purely to maximise our own individual utility

Ecology
Possible evidence in research findings in ecology to discuss:
 * soil degradation
 * long-term study
 * analysis of soil samples in representative areas
 * soil analysis in different land areas are compared e.g. palm oil plantations v. natural forest
 * uses statistical analysis to work out the means and distribution soil chemical properties
 * loss of biodiversity
 * field survey to calculate population density of various species in different land areas
 * random sample sites are chosen within each land area
 * species count in each sample site
 * models and ecological tests are used to calculate species richness
 * deforestation
 * satellite imaging is used, images are collected from various sources
 * analysed using different computational sources to identify land used for palm oil plantations
 * compares images from different time periods

Ecology largely relies on quantitative research methods to understand the relationship between living organisms and the environment6. Deforestation, a major concern of the high demand for palm oil, has been observed and recorded by ecologists through the use of satellite imaging3. High-resolution images captured from satellites such as Landsat are used to collect data on land use and understand environmental change12 as a result of palm oil plantations. Tools such as unsupervised classification, visual classification, and observation of spectral characteristics are used to quantify the area on which oil palm is grown345. This identification process is repeated on datasets of satellite images from different time periods in order to compare changes of land use over time. Statistical models and formulas are then used to calculate the rate of deforestation4. Through this methodology, ecologists are able to gather evidence on the statistically significant rates of deforestation as a result of the spatial expansion of palm oil plantations. However, a limitation of this methodology is its reliance on computer algorithms and machine learning that may mistakenly identify other vegetation as oil palm or unable to detect oil palm due to its age or larger spacing between trees.

Ecologists have found that the clearing of land for palm oil plantations have resulted in a loss of biodiversity7. Typically field surveys are conducted to measure the population density of various fauna in an area. Palm oil plantations and natural forests are used as study sites and are then divided into quadrants781011. Researchers will then count the number of specific species found in randomly selected quadrants. Statistical analysis tools such as EstimateS, Generalised Linear Mixed Models, and chi-squared tests to assess species richness and abundance in an area910. This data has demonstrates that converting natural forests to oil palm plantations can lead to significant biodiversity loss in these areas from fauna such as orangutans, tigers, and bird species.

Nutrition
Nutrition is the process of assimilating food which directly linked to palm oil and how it is impacting the consumer. Methods used in nutrition to obtain evidence on the impact of palm oil on someone’s health and nutrition include scientific research, experiments and clinical trials. (Cite here) They are usually used as one process, analyzing palm oil itself and then experimenting and observing its effects on subjects. The goal is to understand the influence of palm oil on the lipids in the blood compared to other oils. To gather evidence, different types of trials were led with different parameters varying, the participants characteristics, the sample size, the intervention characteristics; their reliability can be assessed on the Jadad scoring used for clinical trials. (Cite here) The method in that case is observing impact on the body through regular intake of palm oil and integrating it into the subject’s diet. Researchers analyzed the principal fatty acids in palm oil respectively oleic acid (about 40%) and palmitic acid (about 44%) cite here and how they impacted functions of the body such as body weight, metabolic rate, blood pressure... And as opposed to what could have been expected, fresh palm oil has benefits such as vitamin A and E intake, reducing lipids distributed in the body (cholesterol, triglycerides). These clinical trials show that palm oil is not fundamentally dangerous and that it has various benefits but when not consummated fresh it can present some dangers. Moreover, the recommended intake of saturated fat a day does should not be over 10% (cite here) of total calories, which means that unless a large amount is consumed, palm oil cannot be linked to non-communicable diseases. According to the evidence found, the problem with palm oil consumption is not palm oil itself but rather the quantity consumed and how it is consumed (fresh or not).

Sociology
Sociologists utilize methods such as interviews, ethnography, surveys, systematic observation to collect evidence on and study the structure and relationships within human societies. The sociological study of palm oil looks at the social impacts of palm oil production on indigenous households and communities. Sociologists methods Studies on the social impact of palm oil production have heavily relied on (interviews) > forming structured questionnaires > multistage random sampling procedures > probability sampling techniques which have known probabilities of occurance
 * Interviews
 * Ethnography
 * Surveys
 * Systemic observation

Environmental and Social Impacts of Oil Palm Plantations and their Implications for Biofuel Production in Indonesia
Citation: Obidzinski, Krystof; Andriani, Rubeta; Komarudin, Heru; Andrianto, Agus (2012). "Environmental and Social Impacts of Oil Palm Plantations and their Implications for Biofuel Production in Indonesia". Ecology and Society 17 (1). doi:10.5751/es-04775-170125. ISSN 1708-3087. Methods:
 * Selected sites which represent    a wide range of business models and the large range of potential social     and environmental issues which may vary according to region
 * Three main types of data:    household surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews
 * Five stakeholder groups    indentified - employees, former landowners, customary users, investing     households, affected neighbours
 * Household surveys used generic    questionnaires to determine each respondents individual experiences
 * Used a snowball sampling method    to identify respondents to the household survey
 * Purposive sampling applied to    select member for focus group discussions, asking open-ended question, to     then verify information collected by the household survey
 * Informant interviews was a    source of secondary data collected through the use of semistructured     interviews with government officials to provide a wider view
 * Suggested economic benefits    were unevenly distributed - some stakeholders greatly benefits, while     others struggled
 * contrast with economic evidence     - by interviewed a wide range of households instead of only applying      modelling, is able to see inconsistencies

Does Actor Perspective Matter? A Case Study of Designing Intervention for Small‐Scale Palm Oil Production Enterprises in Kwaebibirem District of Ghana
Citation: Osei-Amponsah C, Visser L. Does Actor Perspective Matter? A Case Study of Designing Intervention for Small-Scale Palm Oil Production Enterprises in Kwaebibirem District of Ghana. Rural Sociology [Internet]. 2015 [cited 8 December 2020];81. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291012205_Does_Actor_Perspective_Matter_A_Case_Study_of_Designing_Intervention_for_Small-Scale_Palm_Oil_Production_Enterprises_in_Kwaebibirem_District_of_Ghana
 * Used an ethnographic method    to elucidate stakeholders experiences
 * Studied power relationships    within the plantation context
 * Actor-employed ethnographic    approach, following different actors
 * Processor, mill owner,     caretaker, farmers
 * Defined the mill,    or Kramer as a social field, following Bourdieu's notion of the field:     "locus of relations of force", possessing its own rules, logic regularities
 * Interviewed and followed    actors over an extended period
 * Conclusion: Power dynamics in    the Kramer result in mistrust between actors, preventing improvements in     the quality of small-scale palm oil production.
 * Author emphasises empirical     methods ((similar to economic research)

Social implications of palm oil production through social life cycle perspectives in Johor, Malaysia
Citation: Muhammad, Khairul Izzuddin; Sharaai, Amir Hamzah; Ismail, Mohd Mansor; Harun, Rosta; Yien, Wong Siew (2018-10-18). "Social implications of palm oil production through social life cycle perspectives in Johor, Malaysia". The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 24 (5): 935–944. doi:10.1007/s11367-018-1540-y. ISSN 0948-3349.


 * Social Life Cycle Assessment = S-LCA
 * Adapts the Life Cycle    Assessment to incorporate the study of the social and socioeconomic     impacts of a products production.
 * Identified two stakeholders,    workers and communities, and looked at the results on a five-point Likert     Scale of the expected versus perceived quality of each criterion
 * Workers = job satisfaction,     salary, discrimination, health and safety, and social benefits
 * Communities = safe living     conditions, cultural heritage, community engagement, and local employment
 * Found that overall effects    were positive, only the criteria of discrimination and social heritage had     mediocre results

Oil Palm Boom and Farm Household Diets in the Tropics
Citation : Sibhatu, Kibrom T. (2019). "Oil Palm Boom and Farm Household Diets in the Tropics" (in English). Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 3. doi:10.3389/fsufs.2019.00075. ISSN 2571-581X.
 * Looks at the    impact on diet based on palm oil adoption      due to the rapidly increasing palm oil monocultures
 * Collected data using a Panel    Household Survey - presented households with a structured questionnaire -     interviews
 * 40 villages in total
 * Used carefully trained     enumerators from Bahasa Indonesia
 * Information collected in this    survey resulted in a wide data set; survey identified food and non-food     consumption, farm activities, socioeconomic characteristics and     demographics.
 * From this data,    descriptive statistics were formed and researchers then analysed dietary     outcomes - studied indicators such as calorie consumption, fruit and     vegetable intake, annual food expenditure and household dietary     diversity (HDDS) as primary outcome variables
 * Use panel logit regression to    determine the impact of palm oil adoption in farms as a dichotomous     variable of household's diets
 * Positive effects were    observed

First Draft  The nutritional impact of palm oil is also investigated by sociologists who study structure and relationships within societies, however using different methods. [1] Interviews, ethnography, survey research, and systematic observation are typically collected by sociologists, to analyse the social impact of palm oil production on indigenous households and communities. [2] Many complete household surveys, presenting structured questionnaires to households chosen by multistage random sampling procedures with known probabilities of occurrence.[3] Data collected is then analyzed to form descriptive and inferential statistics, much of which demonstrates the industry positively impacts producing communities. Researchers investigated Farm house hold diets using Household studies, however unlike nutritionists collecting to qualitative evidence, researched formed a structured questionnaire investigated through face-to-face interviews, to estimate and investigate calorific consumption and dietary composition of workers. To analyse evidence from these surveys, researchers may employ the S-LCA – Social Life Cycle Assessment, which examines the social/socioeconomic impacts of a product’s production. [4]In Malaysia, researchers identified two key stakeholders, palm oil plantation workers and local communities, conducting a set questionnaire interview regarding topics like discrimination, health and safety, social benefit, cultural heritage. [5] Questions were structured on a five-point Likert scale to examine the difference between expected and perceived quality of each social criterion. Once descriptively analysed, the data supported the expected outcomes of the study, suggesting production has positive impacts on stakeholders, with positive outcomes in all sub-categories apart from discrimination and cultural heritage. [6] Ethnography can elucidate the experiences of key stakeholders. Researchers in Ghana employed an actor-oriented ethnographic approach to study power relationships within the plantation context. [7]By defining the mill, or “Kramer” as a social field, sociologists followed palm oil processors over an extended period, to collect detailed information. This study highlighted that power dynamics in the Kramer result in mistrust between actors, preventing improvements in the quality of small-scale palm oil production.

[1] What do Sociologists Study? | Sociology [Internet]. Uncg.edu. 2018 [cited 2020 Dec 8]. Available from: https://soc.uncg.edu/about-us/what-do-sociologists-study/ [2] Qaim M, Sibhatu KT, Siregar H, Grass I. Environmental, Economic, and Social Consequences of the Oil Palm Boom. Annual Review of Resource Economics. 2020 May 19;12(1). [3] Obidzinski K, Andriani R, Komarudin H, Andrianto A. Environmental and Social Impacts of Oil Palm Plantations and their Implications for Biofuel Production in Indonesia. Ecology and Society [Internet]. 2012 [cited 2020 Dec 8];17(1). Available from: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol17/iss1/art25/ [4] Colloque « Science, Innovation et Société » de l’ANRT [Internet]. Lifecycleinitiative.org. 2020 [cited 2020 Dec 8]. Available from: https://www.lifecycleinitiative.org/starting-life-cycle-thinking/life-cycle-approaches/social-lca/ [5] Muhammad KI, Sharaai AH, Ismail MM, Harun R, Yien WS. Social implications of palm oil production through social life cycle perspectives in Johor, Malaysia. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment [Internet]. 2018 Oct 18 [cited 2020 Dec 8];24(5):935–44. Available from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11367-018-1540-y#article-info [6]Muhammad KI, Sharaai AH, Ismail MM, Harun R, Yien WS. Social implications of palm oil production through social life cycle perspectives in Johor, Malaysia. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment [Internet]. 2018 Oct 18 [cited 2020 Dec 8];24(5):935–44. Available from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11367-018-1540-y#article-info [7] Osei-Amponsah C, Visser L. Does Actor Perspective Matter? A Case Study of Designing Intervention for Small-Scale Palm Oil Production Enterprises in Kwaebibirem District of Ghana. Rural Sociology [Internet]. 2015 Dec 21 [cited 2020 Dec 8];81(2):224–48. Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ruso.12093 ‌

Tensions draft
-Evidence collected in each respective discipline looks at different aspects of the palm oil industry eg ecology – damaging environmental effects, econ & sociology – effects on inequality/living standards -Nutrition & sociology: Palm oil benefiting well being -Sociology & nutrition: ○ Nutritional benefits of palm oil in indigenous communities > both through sociological study (calories etc) and biological intake whatever .. Smallholders • Supporting them : helps environment, social and economic benefits -Different nature of the evidence: qualitative v. quantitative -Econ vs ecological sciences (and nutrition as well?) Simplified models vs. real raw data acting as evidential basis.

Disciplinary Tensions Finding cohesion in the evidence presented by individual disciplines is the biggest challenge to understanding the impact of the rising consumption of palm oil with an interdisciplinary approach. This is due to the varying nature of the disciplines themselves: Economics focuses on human behaviour and decision-making in terms of markets, organisations, and countries; sociology analyses human social behaviour; ecology studies the relationship between living organisms and the surrounding ecosystem; and nutrition looks at nutrients in relation to the functioning of an organism. The result being that each discipline examines divergent aspects of the palm oil industry. Consequently, the evidence collected and it's methodology in each discipline are often not complementary. This makes it difficult to integrate the evidence in economics, sociology, ecology, and nutrition to form a cohesive conclusion regarding the impact of increasing production and consumption of palm oil.

Often the type and collection of evidence conflict. For example, both nutritionists and sociologists look at the dietary implications of palm oil, however while nutritionists uses quantitative methods such as clinical trials to study the biological impact, sociologists use qualitative research like interviews to examine different indicators, such as calorie and fruit and vegetable intake, of producing households. Having different types of evidence and different focuses makes it difficult to integrate the findings of each discipline.

Tensions also arise between disciplines that use different methods to represent information. The economic perspective uses models that simplify reality, limiting the number of variables considered and the externalities accounted for in the modelling. Applying a simplified model such as GDP, as in the analysis of the palm oil sector, contrasts with research in the natural sciences, specifically ecology, where raw data is collected making the evidence presented ((somewhat more objective)). It is challenging to combine both of these data due to the inherent methodological differences between disciplines.

Conflicting assumptions between disciplines is also problematic. For example, economics is based on the core assumption that human beings are rational agents. Sociologists reject this idea, instead explaining human behaviour as a product of social behaviour and thus not always rational. In this case, the social forces involved in influencing the diet of palm oil farmers. The problem that arises is, is it possible to integrate two disciplines whose findings don't necessarily conflict yet have opposing fundamental beliefs?

Taking an interdisciplinary approach for this issue allows a more complete view of what is at stake, however, it is difficult to compare the outcome of the research due to the nature of the evidence itself.