Subject: Re: Questions for researchers

From: [email-masked] (DIPTERA2)
Date: 23 Jun 1996 16:36:01 -0400

The early stages of gaining knowledge in any field involves a mountain of
reading. Information comes in  vast quantities, this is the information
generation and society won't tolerate the uneducated. This doesn't mean
the formally educated. Self-made people are still being made. I take it
you have a computer, and this being the case you have an incredible
opportunity, to secure information. The library isn't what it use to be. 
THE BEETLE GUY IN OKLAHOMA  \ /
 If you think education is                  (_)
expensive, try ignorance.               \-{  }-/
                                                   \-{_}-/
                                                     <>

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From: Soren Nylin <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 24 Jun 1996 06:00:04 GMT

>[email-masked] (Ursula Keuper-Bennett) wrote:
>>I am a layperson still trying to understand how scientists go about
>>doing the things they do.
>>
>>You wish to study the BEHAVIOUR of a group of animals.  You could
>>quantify growth rates or how often they breathe or the determine the
>>frequency of aggressive acts.
>>
>>But let's just say you are observing a population of animals and you
>>just want to know EVERYTHING about them and you aren't a trained
>>observer?  I have come to realize "observing" isn't just looking at them
>>and conscientiously writing about what they do.
>
>Hi Ursula;
>
>A good start if you want to know "everything" about an animal, is to go to
>your local university library and search the journal "Current Contents in
>Biology".  If you  are lucky, the library has it on disk.  You can use
>keywords (such as the scientific and common name of your critter) to find
>your articles.  Also, almost all university libraries have programs designed
>to find articles on specific subjects.  These can be very helpful, just keep
>in mind that no one source will have all the papers that there are.
>
(cut)

>As you read more and more, the articles will start to make sense to you, and
>will become interesting and exciting.  This will cause you to want to go back
>and reread some of the articles you didn't understand at first (which is one

(cut)

>
>Floyd Catchpole, Kansas State University, Dep't. of Biology, Ackert Hall,
>Manhattan, KS 66506 USA
>

And I might add: Reading scientific papers about "your" animals, and about
other related animals, you will find theories about why they behave as they
do, look like they do and so on. You will also form your own theories. These
theories lead to predictions that you can test by observing the animals,
either finding support for the theories or no support. Keep the theories
that got support and think again about the other ones. This technique,
"hypothesis testing", is the modern scientific method and is the difference
between science/research and "just observing" (pure description without theory).

Good luck

Soren

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Soren Nylin
Dept of Zoology
Stockholm University
S-106 91 Stockholm
SWEDEN

Tel +46-8-164033
FAX +46-8-167715
EMAIL [email-masked]