สำนักราชบัณฑิตยสภา

«“√ “√ √“™∫— ≥±‘ µ¬ ∂“π ªï ∑’Ë Û ©∫— ∫∑’Ë Ù µ.§.-∏.§. ÚıÙ¯ 965 Arika Virapongse, Chayan Picheansoonthon decision models may only predict what informants will say they did to make decisions, instead of what they really do and did. 24 8. Literature surveys A large number of descrip- tive studies have been published, and literature surveys are needed to summarize and compare data for verification, standardization and application of the results. 42 Steenkamp 43 completed a literature survey of the traditional herbal remedies used to treat gynecological complaints among South African women in order to compile and analyze the types of health conditions that are treated and medicinal plants used for treatment. These results may be used in further descriptive, hypothesis testing, or bioprospec- ting studies. Testing hypothesis Hypothesis testing is vital for evaluating, assessing and validating research of traditional medicine and the resulting data can be used to advance and direct future studies. Descriptive data of the study site and community must be of suffi- cient depth in order to generate hypothesis. 44,45 Current hypotheses in studies of traditional medicine have a basis in such paradigms as cognitive, evolution, ecology, anthro- pology, and plant systematics 45 and are tested by applying quantitative analysis to results obtained from descriptive studies. The importance of quantitative methods and statistical analysis of interdisciplinary studies has been recently acknowledged, and a variety of methods has been and is in the process of being developed. 11 Three case studies are presented to demonstrate some objectives of hypotheses testing in studies of traditional medicine. 1. Effects of migration on plant use knowledge 46 This study compares a literature survey of medicinal plants used by healers in Dominican Republic with descriptive data of migrant healers in New York City to test the effects of plant availability on medicinal plant knowledge. The results validate the data collected with the migrant healers and identify important differences and similarities between treatments and treatment methods used by Dominican herb- alists in the Dominican Republic and NewYork City. The conclusions of the study evaluate the effect of migration on medicinal plant use and knowledge. 2. Ecological, cultural and socioeconomic effects on medicinal plant use 16 Nolan 16 used a variety of literature sources in combination with descriptive field research to examine the ecological, cultural and socioeconomic factors that affect the medicinal plant use by herbalists in two mountain zones of the Ozark- Ouachita Highlands. Interviews and free-listing methods were used to collect data on medicinal plants used by herbalists and socio-demo- graphic data of each healer. Literature sources were used to identify and determine local plants, quantitative differences of species abundance, natural habitat of each species, and variety and dominance of the cha- racteristic flora for each mountain area. The distribution of plant species was compared to ecological records of understory species in each mountain zone to assess the asso- ciation between vernacular know- ledge and availability. Sociodemo- graphic variables relating to the informants and their home com- munities were examined to identify how regional geography and eco- nomy may affect medicinal plant use and knowledge in study areas. The medicinal plants used in re- medies were compared to literature resources describing medicinal plants used historically by early settlers, native Americans and folk medicine experts in Britain and Scotland. The results included (1) a list of medicinal plants and plant applica- tions; (2) informant agreement on medicinal plant use; (3) relationship between socio-demographic data and extent of medicinal plant know- ledge; (4) cultural and geographic continuity of medicinal plant use; (5) socioeconomic and demographic variables associated with medicinal plant preservation; and (6) effect of forest composition and regional plant availability on medicinal plant knowledge among the healers. 3. Testing antiquity of medi- cinal plant use knowledge 47 Two detailed and indepen- dent descriptive ethnobotanical