BIOMETRY
Stat 412
PROCEDURE FOR DEVELOPING CLASS PROJECTS
A. Pick a question: remember, it is the questions that drive us. . . .
B. Pick a study topic:
Plants (grass, trees, ferns, etc.)
Animals (insects, birds, fish, people!)
Physical factors (temperature, rainfall, etc.)
C. Pick a traits to measure:
Length, weight, age
physiological traits (BP, pulse, etc.)
timed counts, percent cover, density
D. Pick factors to examine
1. Comparisons among groups and/or time: take replicate samples from each of 3-4
populations and compare some trait across time.
2. Document distributions: compare habitat use in two potentially interacting species, or
color morphs, by measuring habitat characters in several areas.
3. Test Hypotheses: compare the response, size and/or orientation of an organism in relation
to the presence/absence of a potential causal factor.
E. Create a sampling protocol
Each study should proceed through the following steps if possible:
1. Initial survey: determine the best sampling tool (count, observe, quadrat, line transect,
traps) and sampling method (random vs. systematic); get preliminary data (optional but
highly recommended).
2. Experimental Design: design the study from start to finish
Hypotheses: formal statements of ideas to be tested. Remember you can have more
than one hypothesis and some hypotheses may actually be assumptions of other
hypotheses.
Sample size: We will cover this later but for now try and get n=20-30 as a minimum
sample size within each factor examined.
Statistical tests: explicit statements on what tests will be used; probabilities of
acceptance/rejection; what conclusions will be reached under each circumstance (an
important step but we are unlikely to have covered the method you will be using).
3. Final surveys: collect the data based on the design (may include quality control/assurance).
F. Just Do it! (see Ian about checking out equipment for surveys)