Lecture 2, Scientific Progress

Biol 404

The stages of study…• Interest piqued by…..• Read around the concept/species/field/issue• Identify knowledge gap/next step in the field• Decide on type of study• Design study• Collect data/analyse• Understand• Present results• Publish

The stages of study…• Interest piqued by…..• Read around the concept/species/field/issue• Identify knowledge gap/next step in the field• Decide on type of study• Design study• Collect data/analyse• Understand• Present results• Publish

Species Concept

Issue

Ecosystem/location

The stages of study…• Interest piqued by…..• Read around the concept/species/field/issue• Identify knowledge gap/next step in the field• Decide on type of study• Design study• Collect data/analyse• Understand• Present results• Publish

Read!!• Web of knowledge, google scholar• Base your reading on academic publications• Understand the history• Read outside your chosen species etc…

e.g. co-operative behaviour in meerkats.

The stages of study…• Interest piqued by…..• Read around the concept/species/field/issue• Identify knowledge gap/next step in the field• Decide on type of study• Design study• Collect data/analyse• Understand• Present results• Publish

Identify knowledge gap/next step in the field

• “Next step” often higher impact than “knowledge gap”

• Broad relevance increases impact• Species specific studies tend to be low impact

The stages of study…• Interest piqued by…..• Read around the concept/species/field/issue• Identify knowledge gap/next step in the field• Decide on type of study• Design study• Collect data/analyse• Understand• Present results• Publish

Decide on type of studyField measurements

Field experiments

Common garden exptsLab experiments

The stages of study…• Interest piqued by…..• Read around the concept/species/field/issue• Identify knowledge gap/next step in the field• Decide on type of study• Design study• Collect data/analyse• Understand• Present results• Publish

Design study

Design study

What will data look like?

Can I analyse this type of data?

No YesProceed

The stages of study…• Interest piqued by…..• Read around the concept/species/field/issue• Identify knowledge gap/next step in the field• Decide on type of study• Design study• Collect data/analyse• Understand• Present results• Publish

The stages of study…• Interest piqued by…..• Read around the concept/species/field/issue• Identify knowledge gap/next step in the field• Decide on type of study• Design study• Collect data/analyse• Understand• Present results• Publish

Understand• Interpret results• Discuss with colleagues• Discuss with researchers in other fields

The stages of study…• Interest piqued by…..• Read around the concept/species/field/issue• Identify knowledge gap/next step in the field• Decide on type of study• Design study• Collect data/analyse• Understand• Present results• Publish

Present results• Before publication, results are presented at

conferences.

Large and diverse conferences vs. small and specialised

The stages of study…• Interest piqued by…..• Read around the concept/species/field/issue• Identify knowledge gap/next step in the field• Decide on type of study• Design study• Collect data/analyse• Understand• Present results• Publish

Publishing is difficult!

• Publications are the currency of science• Aim for high impact journals• Expect rejections!• Specialised journals will expect more

knowledge of the field• Journals arranged in informal “tiers”• Journals move between tiers• Journal impact factors indicate standing