I did my research on dandelions in my front yard. I found the process quite tough but it is satisfying to have done my own research and completed a scientific report on my findings. I had some issues with figuring out how to make sure that my sampling was random. At first, I generated random numbers for the amount of steps I would walk but I often would walk off the lawn. So, I changed the design and made a map of my lawn by tracing it from Google Earth and then creating a grid on the map and randomly generating points on the lawn. Engaging in this process has made me appreciate all the time and effort that goes into ecological research and therefore its theory. Through this course, I have found more of an appreciation for ecology and nature.
yes you can make rules about random sampling – for example, if the sample falls too close to an edge, don’t sample there (avoid edge affects) etc Any ‘rule’ would reduce the potential impact of another factor in influencing data.
A good place to write that up is in Discussions, as well, if you have did the study one way and found ways of improving it