Blog Post 5: Design Reflections (Tokyo, Japan)

Did you have any difficulties in implementing your sampling strategy? If yes, what were these difficulties? 

I had difficulty implementing my sampling strategy at first trying to decide how to measure flower abundance. I looked at several different methods – coverage, ACFOR scale, haphazard, systematic, and random sampling. The qualitative methods (coverage, ACFOR) were easier to produce but I was afraid my data would not be robust, so I chose the quantitative method. Additionally, I was not sure which quantitative method I should use. I was afraid my bias would affect my results, so I eventually decided to use the random sampling method to reduce bias as much as possible. Additionally, I struggled to determine how to define my sample unit. Should I include just flowers? Or should I include flowers and buds? Eventually, I decided to include buds because they both represent the flowering capability of the plant, and would eventually add to the flower abundance. 

Was the data that you collected surprising in any way? 

The data I collected was surprising. Contrary to my initial hypothesis, sun exposure time by itself did not seem to correlate with flower density. In fact, it may be the intensity of sun exposure that affects flower density. Without doing any statistical analysis, the average temperature during sun exposure seems to correlate with flower density and abundance. The hotter the average temperature during sun exposure, the lower the flower density. This might suggest that there is an optimal temperature range for greatest flower density. Further analyses must be performed to make any statements at this point.

Do you plan to continue to collect data using the same technique, or do you need to modify your approach? If you will modify your approach, explain briefly how you think your modification will improve your research. 

I plan to conduct my study with the data collected, but as my professor pointed out, I don’t have many replicates so that will be a limiting factor to my study. I went outside my garden and tried to look for areas around Tokyo where there seemed to be multiple bushes under the same sun condition, but there are not many areas where there are multiple bushes growing, and if there were, the sunlight condition was not the same across the bushes (because the buildings around the bushes created a shade in one or more of the samples). In an ideal situation, I would have at least 5 bushes of azalea growing under the same condition, and select more areas with a varying temperature gradient.