User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
The chosen study area is in my backyard (private property) in the residential neighborhood of Aberdeen in Kamloops, B.C. The surrounding vegetation is ornamental and the topography is rolling hills. My last site visit was on May 23rd 2021 at 11:00am and the weather was sunny (26°C) with no precipitation.
My proposed study is to conduct an experiment that measures the growth rate of sunflower plants based on 2 different watering volume applications (i.e. 2 study groups). The study would be conducted over a 6-week timeframe during the spring/ summer of 2021. This would involve growing potted sunflower plants, side by side, in an area that is approximately 20 m2. Half of the potted sunflowers would receive a consistently higher volume of water applications than the other study group, which would receive a lower volume of water throughout the experiment. There would be a total of 24 sunflower plants used in the experiment. There would be 12 sunflower replicates – in each study group – which would all receive the same watering volume applications. The corresponding plant growth rate would be measured for both study groups. All of the other design variables would be constant (controlled), including the – location, sunlight, growth medium, climatic conditions, and watering application time intervals.
Other potential study subjects include setting up a similar study, as the aforementioned, except with using a different predictor variable, such as:
- Measuring potted sunflower plant growth rates at 2 different locations (in my backyard) that have different sunlight exposure levels, including – a full shade and a full sun exposure location.
- Measuring sunflower plant growth rates by comparing the use of fertilizer to unfertilized plants.
Potential study questions, include:
- Is the sunflower plant growth greater in the high-water volume application study group?
- Is the sunflower plant growth greater in the full sunlight exposure study group?
- Is the sunflower plant growth greater in the fertilizer study group?
- blog 1 photos
Your first blog post is more about exploring and observing your study site and should include more details on that as detailed in the instructions in the module. Remember to include your journal entries when asked in the modules and please categorize under my name so I can find your posts easily.
Your study design is more of an artificial study rather than choosing a natural gradient as described in the course. I am ok with that though your post should have come observing natural growth of flowers in your backyard along with the amount of watering you do or something. Make sure you still follow the modules in future posts, and I expect your study site to be your backyard so you will need a good description of that when you come to the methods of your paper.