Sampling Biological Populations

Abstract

Perhaps the best way to learn about science is to practice the craft; this is sound pedagogical practice with most disciplines. Students can and should do credible research (Yurkiewicz & Steucek 1970). There is no dearth of problems that beckon our attention. Secondary school and college students represent an enormous resource which could be utilized to conduct research within the confines of science courses. It is no longer possible to teach all that is known about the natural world; emphasis on the process of scientific investigation should not be slighted to squeeze in factual material. On the contrary, the process of scientific investigation should be emphasized, particularly to nonscience majors. Models in biological science have changed dramatically during the past half century, illustrating the limited utility of presenting only factual material. Since many community problems have a biological basis and since students are able to study biological problems relatively easily, the initiation of scientific research in biology courses is appropriate. Moreover, such projects may satisfy local school district goals of a pedagogical nature and prepare students for effective citizenship; perhaps a government/civics teacher could be involved with the definition of a problem. Local health, environmental, agricultural, industrial and scientific researchers represent good sources of important projects; moreover, collaboration with these scientists could be rewarding for all (Spector & White 1985). The initiation of any research project demands that attention be given to the procedure for sampling the population of interest. I will address this problem. Biological science is becoming more quantitative; this is evident in journal articles and in laboratory exercises published in manuals. With this shift from a descriptive to a quantitative presentation, students are often introduced to simple statistical techniques, such as Student's t-test and analysis of variance which are often found in appendixes of laboratory manuals. Interestingly, appropriate sampling procedures are often ignored by these same laboratory manuals. These statistical analyses make assumptions about how data were collected and hence place constraints on the sampling procedure. The use of an appropriate sampling procedure generally takes little time and provides a healthy assurance that the findings will not be discounted on the basis of artifactual bias. This important point should be made to all students of science.