User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
Reflecting on my field research, I have come to appreciate the importance of preparing before starting to implement research. Throughout my data collection I had to modify my predictions, hypotheses, and sampling methods multiple times. This is because the more knowledge I gained from my peers, professor, and supporting literature, the more I recognized ways of better carrying out my research project. Given the time limits in which I had to carry out the data collection, this was partly inevitable. However, for future research I will make sure I spend more time collecting as much background information as I can before implementing my data collection.
Still, by the end of my field experiment, I ended up where I initially wanted to be. For instance, while my original focus was on soil moisture and soil pH, I am now have the knowledge to know that my focus was actually dealing with autumn senescence differences. My study design and implementation was not altered much. Small changes were made to better encompass replication, randomization, and measurement accuracy, but the actual implementation went quite smoothly. The largest issues I faced were not knowing how to put my thoughts and purpose into words until I spent more time looking at supporting literature.
This research project has undoubtedly increased my appreciation for how ecological theory is developed. Through reading existing literature and carrying out an experiment myself, I have come to appreciate the value in what seems like insignificant findings. Without the existence of ecological data and results, regardless of how small, it would be impossible for researchers to draw conclusions and, eventually, create theories. I have also come to appreciate the intricate and difficult process of developing ecological theories. For my research topic specifically, there is vast research looking into what controls autumn senescence in trees. Many authors have produced similar findings and conclusions, but many have also contradicted each other. The one similarity among all of the literature I reviewed was that all have acknowledged the inability to form an theory on how autumn senescence is controlled. My research is no different. It has not solved this underlying problem. Still, my field research is one more piece of data in the ever-accumulating pool of data that will eventually help produce a theory.
Overall I really enjoyed the process of creating and carrying out field research. I enjoyed researching how my findings fit into the broader scope of existing literature, and how they are important from a big picture point of view.
That’s all!
Madeleine
