Data Collection at Cranberry Flats

I sampled 10 replicates on each side of the staircase. My sampling strategy was straight forward and easy to implement. One difficulty I had was that I intended to randomly measure three projections at each sampling site; however, at nine of 20 sampling sites, no projections met my inclusion criteria (at least 30cm in length). This means that I have no data for these sites. This is relevant for my hypothesis that there are more projections on one side of the stairs compared to the other. Unfortunately, this also means that I am not able to calculate an average length of projections for these sampling sites, decreasing the amount of data I have to analyze. This means that I am less likely to find a difference between conditions as differences are difficult to detect in small samples, unless the difference is large. I believe that my hypotheses are sound, although there are other variables that could explain any potential differences in groups (e.g., amount of sunlight received, ground moisture and run-off) which I will have to address in my study limitations. Patterns in these variables may be of interest; however, I am unable to measure them.