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Blog Post 9: Field Research Reflections
November 11, 2019
Throughout the course I analyzed abundant plant species in my back yard in Christchurch NZ. I created and followed through with the hypothesis that Hydrocotyle heteromeria, an invasive water species, is in fact limited by the moisture content in the soil. The soil on the South side of the lawn where the Hydrocotlyle was found contained high levels of moisture in comparison to the Northern side. The idea that one side of the lawn had higher moisture levels than the other is what led me to construct my hypothesis. I did however change my field study design. I was planning to analyze one single plot over a gradient, but I needed a complex computer program to analyze a design that contained one categorical and one numerical variable. I decided to create two plots, one which had ‘wet’ soil and one which had ‘dry’ soil. This change allowed me to create two variables which were both categorical and could therefore be analyzed with a tabular method using a statistical Chi-test. Since I changed my design it allowed me to add the completed data to my research paper instead of writing in my results “what I could have done” to analyze the data. I was glad that I could completely follow through with the results to determine if the variables were independent of one another.
I did however find it difficult to get enough research articles for my annotation. There was not a lot of relevant literature on my specific Hydrocotyle species. I did find a book which said that all Hydrocotlye species can be grouped into the same category because their biology was all extremely similar.
This course has been very worthwhile. It has given me practical knowledge to create and design research papers and field studies. It has also taught me various aspects on reading research papers which pertains to all courses and how to scrutinize research paper results to determine if the findings are credible. This course has allowed me to appreciate the dedication it takes to create large scale research studies.
