Читать книгу Practical Field Ecology - C. Philip Wheater - Страница 50

Although you might worry that using a pilot study will delay the start of you collecting the data you need for your project, in reality it may save you time and further problems down the line. Trying out your project over a small scale (including in time), will enable you to better plan the logistics of implementing your project. Not only do you get a chance to ensure you can realistically complete the project, you will also gain an insight into the variability and values of data you are collecting. Such insights are particularly useful when assessing the sample size required (p. 30). Pilot studies enable you to become familiar with your techniques so that the data collected will be the result of skilled implementation, rather than early data being the result of less well managed techniques that are new to you. Any changes that you include to your final design as a result of the experiences from your pilot studies should be documented in your final methods section of your report.

Figure 1.2 Example timescales for a medium‐term research project. Note that health and safety, ethical, and legal issues should be examined within the initial proposal and a refined risk assessment produced during the focussed proposal and planning phase. This risk assessment should be revisited regularly throughout the project.