Classroom Applications To Data Page To 50 Questions Page
The
following exercise is designed to show you that you have the ability to think
through the scientific method—going from observations, to questions, to
hypotheses, to analysis and interpretation of data.
The
first part of this exercise asks you to provide yourself with an uninterrupted
interval in which to ask questions about a natural system.
The second part asks you to analyze your questions, and the third, that
you write up one of your best questions in the form of a small research
proposal.
1.
Isolate
yourself someplace in the country where you cannot see or hear other people.
2.
Find a
comfortable place and observe the organisms in the area for 10 min. Do not move
around.
3.
Write
down questions as rapidly as you can for 50-0 min.
4.
Do not
filter your questions—i.e., don’t reject writing down questions about
yourself or other people.
II.
Analysis
of questions. Give short appropriate answers for each question except
question #3.
1.
What
kinds of questions did you ask? (Information,
functional relationship or evolutionary questions.)
2.
Restate
as many of your questions as you can in the form of hypotheses.
3.
How would
you test these hypotheses? (Think
this through in each case, but do not give a written answer.)
4.
How many
questions are there that you do not know how to answer?
5.
Are the
questions you asked a reflection of your background or are they more
representative of the environment in which you found yourself?
6.
Assuming
you can be objective about your own questions—proportion would you judge to be
poor, fair to good, important.
Develop one of your better questions into a short
research proposal (2-3 pages).
There is no set formula for research proposals, but
they should convince the reader:
1.
that the
question is interesting and important,
2.
that
methods are known and available which can be used to test the hypothesis
involved,
3.
that the
question is answerable in a finite interval,
4.
that the
researcher has the skills, knowledge, motivation, etc. to obtain, analyze and
interpret the data.