User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
Designing and carrying out an experiment as well as writing a paper utilizing a lot of academic research has given me much more of an appreciation and understanding of the scientific method and the development of ecological theory. Finding quantifiable patterns in nature is an extremely difficult task due to the amount of variables (confounding, hidden, and obvious ones) that are inherently affecting everything, and the difficulty in creating a controlled sample area outside of a lab. The study design was a lot more important and difficult to create than I had previously thought it would be. It took me forever to figure out what I wanted to study and how I could actually quantify an observable pattern. But once I finally figured out what to do, I had a great time designing and developing my own research project. It was an exciting experience to be allowed to focus on a project of my own design that reflected my own interests. I did have to change my design along the way, as I had to slightly move the locations of my study zones to minimize confounding variables (which through more research realized I may have not even succeeded in doing). In the end I should have researched a lot more about the method I was going to employ for the data collection in order to increase the accuracy of my results. I learned a lot about the limitations of what you can infer from your research. In the beginning I thought I could show direct relationships between certain variables (nutrition, cover), that after more research found that I did not really have data to directly support those relationships at all. This inspires me to continue learning more advanced chemistry and biology in order to one day hopefully employ certain advanced techniques in sampling and analyzing data. I learned a lot about the natural history of the Roosevelt elk and the Columbia black tailed deer, as well as their relationship with the forestry industry in BC in the process of this study. I am now more interested in wildlife and forest biology than I was before taking this course.
I’m so glad your experience was good overall and you did experience a lot of the ups and downs and difficulties in designing just about any field research project and ended up with a great project, which is how the process works.