On what is a “good” research question.
On what is “good” question. “Nothing shocks me, I am a scientist” (Indiana Jones, in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”) Early on, as students of the natural sciences we learn the scientific method. The principle behind it is hypothesis testing, a process through which a conjecture or hypothesis is put to test with some experiment that allows us to manipulate factors. In ecology, the application of this approach took a little longer than in other fields, probably because the discipline has a strong background of natural history: describing species, where they lived and what they did. We can easily picture the first ecologists as thoughtful observers of nature. Also, manipulating factors, carrying our controls and assuring repeatability are high, often difficult to achieve, goals. It was in the late 1950’s, and through the strong influence of researchers such as Robert Mc Arthur, that hypothesis testing has become more of rule in the ecological scienc...
