Behavioural Research

[winnieblues]

Hi everyone,

I am a masters student of Zoology with Animal Behaviour at Bangor University. My current research regards vocalisation behaviour in the domestic dog. I am struggling to find people to represent Basenjis in our research (currently have 4 individuals in our data) and found this forum! Basenjis are important for this study, as they not only possess incredibly unique vocalisations, but are genetically ancient compared to other breeds! I am unsure if asking people to complete my (entirely voluntary and anonymous) research questionnaire for their Basenji violates the 'advertising' rules for this forum. I can't find a higher contact to ask, so just thought I'd make a post and ask. Would posting the link to my questionnaire be violating this rule? I don't want to make anybody uncomfortable or cause trouble! I can provide full details of the questionnaire, including ethical approval by the university and anonymity-related information, though this is lengthy and doesn't seem appropriate for this first post.

Thank you for your help!

[senjisilly]

Send a message directly to the admins of the Forums, admin@basenjiforums.com, to ask about posting a questionnaire for your research project as they don't personally check each Forum post. Next, go to Facebook where there are numerous Basenji groups. Most will allow you to post about your research project but it depends on the group's focus. I can give you a short list of Facebook groups to start with. Many of the Basenji groups are private so you will need to apply to join them. Always ask the admins directly (not in a post) if you can post your research project links. There is also a Basenji sub-Reddit group you can post your project to. My daughter founded the group so I know you can post the project there without issue, r/Basenji.

[winnieblues]

@senjisilly Thank you! I was struggling to find a primary contact! I have contacted many Basenji facebook groups but it's difficult to establish contact with someone. I have been messaging admins since it doesn't seem right to join groups just for this purpose. If you know of any good facebook groups, please let me know! I had also come across the Basenji sub-reddit and considered making a post, but ultimately decided against it. Would I just be able to make a post, or should I contact your daughter with the details of the questionnaire first?

[senjisilly]

@winnieblues
You can just make a post in the Basenji sub-reddit. My daughter and the other admin don't regularly monitor the posts and normally only look at posts if there are several reports from members. Your research project would not be the first one posted to the group. She also started the sub-reddit Rottweiler. She and the admins get a crazy amount of complaints from that group. She told me that the Basenji group is quiet and friendly, unlike the Rottweiler people.

[senjisilly]

@winnieblues
RE: Facebook Basenji groups

Are you interested on only US and Canada participants or are all owner/breeders welcome to participate?

[winnieblues]

@senjisilly All owners and breeders are welcome! We account for the country the dog lives in within the survey (since different populations can vary in behaviour), so any English-understanding owners can partake!

[t89rex]

The Basenjis of Australia and New Zealand Facebook page is quite active and run by the breeder of my basenji. I'm fairly confident she'd be happy for you to post a link there.

I'm also happy to fill it out if you wanted to shoot me the link directly (although Hugo has never made a single sound outside his yawns).

[senjisilly]

Here is the link to the survey: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/thedvqs/

This was posted to the sub-Reddit, r/Basenji. I did not find the questionnaire difficult to navigate. Several of the questions had multiple choice box choices that did not pertain to Basenjis. I ended up writing paragraphs of descriptions.