I think you might as well see what you can get for free. It’s also useful for others to see the discussion if you post it on the forum or in a FB group, and people interested in these topics are often interested in discussing them, too, so I would not see it as imposing on others to just ask.
I also second Rowan_Stanley’s recommendations for places to look for research assistants. I’d be interested myself, but I don’t think I can commit now.
Seconding Rowan_Stanley about just asking on the forum about specific issues, or in the Effective Animal Advocacy, Veggie EA Hangout or Ethics and Animals (not specifically EA) Facebook groups. You can also reach out specifically to (people who do work for) Animal Charity Evaluators, Sentience Institute, Charity Entrepreneurship, Rethink Priorities, or the Animal Welfare EA fund.
I think you might as well see what you can get for free. It’s also useful for others to see the discussion if you post it on the forum or in a FB group, and people interested in these topics are often interested in discussing them, too, so I would not see it as imposing on others to just ask.
I also second Rowan_Stanley’s recommendations for places to look for research assistants. I’d be interested myself, but I don’t think I can commit now.
I’ll also add that you can try searches on the forum and in these Facebook groups to look for existing discussions.
Good point about reaching out to people involved in animal-specific groups.
I know of EAs who work at Faunalytics and Animal Ethics, so they may be good places to try too.
Animal Ethics explicitly offers to help people with animal-welfare related research /​ put them in touch with researchers in the field, so they may be receptive to questions.