User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
This was a completely new process for me. Developing and implementing my experiment came with many challenges. I was often second guessing myself and certain stages of the experimental design took much longer then anticipated. I also realized that at a certain stage there is no turning back even if you are not pleased with everything. A lot of time goes into a good field project. I ended up doubling the amount of samples I collected because I realized that I did not initially have enough to minimize bias.
I have gained an appreciation for the amount of effort, time, and hard work that goes into a successful research project. This came as somewhat of a surprise to me, considering the simplicity of my project in comparison to other research work. I was reminded that ecological theory takes time to develop and it is only as good as the relevant work from other ecologists. This point highlights the need for quality and quantity of literature in order to speak of any given topic with a reasonable level of certainty.
