User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
Designing a field study was an interesting way to identify patterns in nature, and then use theoretical concepts from the textbook to explain my observations. The greatest challenge I faced was designing a study that fit within my time and equipment constraints that could test my hypothesis. From my initial observations, I hypothesized a positive relationship between Canada goldenrod height and level of sunlight exposure. However, I soon realized that height of the goldenrod plant involved too many confounding variables, since I could not determine when the plants began growing. Furthermore, due to my time constraint, I would not be able to measure any significant growth over a period of time. As such, I revised my hypothesis and study design to measure plant density, which I assumed would be affected similarly by sunlight. Designing my study was straight forward, however, implementing it into the field was relatively challenging. The quadrat sampling method was the best method to collect my data, but it was time consuming to accurately pinpoint the randomly generated coordinates within my study area. Additionally, I had to navigate my study area in a way to least disrupt the surrounding vegetation.
Designing and implementing my own field study has given me a greater appreciation for ecological theorists. Collecting reliable data is extremely tedious and an iterative process. Furthermore, when dealing with nature there are many confounding factors that to be considered. I can only imagine the amount of work that must go into designing an irrefutable ecological theory!
