Designing and executing a field experiment did prove to be a challenging undertaking. After choosing and observing a study area, I quickly decided upon a broad topic of study – lawn maintenance. I was confident in my initial hypothesis but was discouraged with early feedback. This resulted in me delaying working on my project until completing most of the other course work. The delay had an underlying benefit as it allowed me to observe the study area over a longer period, which did cause me to revise my hypothesis; although, I did keep the same general framework for my study design.
In terms of study design, I found it difficult to choose a sample unit, and response and predictor variables that would best reflect the information that I wanted to convey. I find the somewhat arbitrary nature of ecological studies to be less than ideal. I received some further feedback on my assignments and blog posts regarding the direction and clarity of my study and I hope that I was able to incorporate the suggestions into my final report in a meaningful way.