"So Molly, How's Your Research Going?" "Um....."
With an abstract due this Wednesday and a poster due in less than a week, it really has begun to sink in that my HH experience is drawing to a close. So, what exciting results have I produced during my time in the Nowicki lab? Now, that's an interesting question. I've run my experiment twice-- the second eight-day trial will finish in about twenty minutes, actually--So, I have my data! Yay! The only prblem is....I'm not exactly sure what it means just yet.
This afternoon, I'm going to be putting my data through a program called SYSTAT, which will, in a nutshell, gobble up my numbers, digest them, and then spit out some more numbers. What thse new numbers will basically tell me is is either, "yes, your results are significant" (fingers crossed) or, "no, sorry, better luck next time." Just looking at the raw data, I'm pretty optimistic about getting a significant result, but since my knowledge of statistics is lacking, I can't be sure, which is why I need SYSTAT. However, whether or not my data is significant or not, I've definitely learned a lot working in the lab this summer.
Even once SYSTAT has given it's opinion, that's not the end of my analysis, though. I'm still not decided on how to put information into SYSTAT-- which way will give me the most accurate picture of what's happening? Will using just the raw data suffice? Should I look at the two-hour period when the bird was most active? What about side bias? Do these birds even have a consistent side bias? If a bird consistenly hops much less than the others, should I disregard that data point (and reduce my already small n?) So, I will be trying lots of different things and working closely with my mentors to bring you, dear reader, and the scientific community at large the conclusions with the most scientific integrity. I wish I could just ask the birds what their agenda is, but as it is I'm trying to interpret their behavior as best I can. It's a puzzle, but one that I'm enjoying trying to piece together!
