Working together with a group of your classmates, read this case study and complete the questions that follow. Remember, when making decisions on ethical research, there may be more than one best or correct answer. The key is your ability to justify your choices and highlight how they abide by the AAPA Code of Ethics. CASE A paleoanthropologist conducts research at a remote fossil site in eastern Africa. The anthropologist is a researcher based at a major university in the United States, and he spends 6 weeks every summer excavating and cataloging fossil materials at the site. The anthropologist has been working in this area for over 15 years, and he has formed close partnerships with local scholars and residents. His current field team is made up of students from the United States and from Kenya, as well as professional colleagues from both countries. He also hires residents from the local village to help with the excavations and to act as field staff, including drivers, cooks, and guides. QUESTIONS: In answering each question, be sure to support your choice with relevant information from the AAPA Code of Ethics. In this situation, the anthropologist is studying fossil materials that are over 2 million years old. From whom should he obtain informed consent for his work? 1. If he continues to work here for the next 10 years, how often should he reobtain informed consent? Should this be done at regular time intervals? Or should it be done only when something changes (for example, if he moves to a different excavation area at the site)? QUESTIONS: In answering each question, be sure to support your choice with relevant information from the AAPA Code of Ethics. 1. In this situation, the anthropologist is studying fossil materials that are over 2 million years old. From whom should he obtain informed consent for his work? 2. If he continues to work here for the next 10 years, how often should he reobtain informed consent? Should this be done at regular time intervals? Or should it be done only when something changes (for example, if he moves to a different excavation area at the site)? 3. Each summer, the anthropologist hires local residents to help at the site. He compensates them with a small wage that is comparable to their local income standards, but much lower than what he would pay similar workers back in the United States. When the field season ends, he and his financial support leave the community until the next summer. Is he adequately reciprocating with the local residents, or do you have recommendations for how he should modify the financial relationship? 4. One summer, the anthropologist returns to the site at the start of a new field season. He discovers that the same local residents who he hires in the summer have allowed their cattle to graze on the site over the winter while he was gone. The cattle have trampled some of the 5. The anthropologist is attending the annual conference of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists (AAPA), and he is chatting with another paleoanthropologist named Jane who works at a nearby fossil site in eastern Africa. Jane asks if he will share his fossil data with her so she can compare the information from the two locations. He is hesitant to do so. He has devoted his career to the information uncovered at this site, and he worries that sharing the data with Jane will undermine his authority in the discipline. How should he proceed? 6. The anthropologist is very proud of the work his team is doing, and he would like to share it with a general audience. What formats might he use to spread the word about his work to the general public? What precautions might he take to make sure the information is spread accurately? Is there anything else he should keep in mind when sharing the research with the public?