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Optional Research Project

Writing up your optional research project

Information about choosing a topic for your project can be found in the piece of work entitled Choosing a topic for your optional research project.

In completing a research project you must achieve the following outcomes:

H3.4 evaluates the management of the processes in agricultural systems
H4.1 applies appropriate experimental techniques, technologies, research by methods and data presentation and analysis in relation to agricultural problems and situations
H5.1 evaluates the impact of innovation, ethics and current issues on Australian agricultural systems.

The final piece of work that you submit for marking, documents your research project and is often known as the report. It should include:

an introduction with a clearly stated research question;
a synopsis or abstract
a literature review
research method
results
data analysis
conclusion
ethical and welfare issues
recommendations
referencing and acknowledgements.

While the report has these identified parts to it, a good report has a holistic component which is very important. What do we mean by holistic?

A good report makes links to the various sections throughout the report. This integrates the work into a holistic complete piece of work. Some examples of links include the following:

You might refer back to the literature review when outlining the research methods used. In many cases the literature review would refer to the way others have collected data relating to the research question being investigated, and you can support your method by referring back to this.
Data analysis and conclusions might refer back to what others have found. This information should be in the literature review.
The conclusion should relate directly back to the introduction and the research question. It should also evaluate any issues associated with the research method (such as strengths or weaknesses) and any explanation for differences in outcomes of the research in terms of what others have found.
Recommendations should refer to the literature review, the results and conclusions.
The synopsis or abstract should briefly refer to the key aspects of each of the sections in the report : problems, actions and results are all important.

In your submitted report of your project you must not identify yourself, fellow candidates, teachers or helpers by name or in photographs.

Only relevant material should be included when you submit your report.

Your project report should be between 3000 and 5000 words. A significant number of students submit reports which are far in excess of this. Often, such reports are padded with irrelevant material, especially in the literature review. Remember, good communication is important in a good report and this is demonstrated by concise and relevant writing.

The purpose and key features of each section of the submitted project report.

Introduction and Research Questions
The introduction to the report should provide a clear purpose for the report. This might include reasons for choosing the area of interest (e.g. a local ongoing problem; a personal interest in marketing; a question asked of you by a farmer, teacher or agronomist; the importance of the enterprise to the local area), some outline of the scope of the issue or problem and the economic or potential value of a solution or understanding of the area. The research question should have agricultural significance.

All research is about finding an answer to a question. Consequently the best way to provide a clear and purposeful direction to the project is to state a simple question. For example, if your area of interest is in the level of fertiliser (e.g. phosphorous) on plant yield, an appropriate question might be:
How does the level of phosphorous fertiliser affect the yield of grain in crop X?
If the area of interest related to marketing and, in particular consumer preferences, a question might be something like:
How does the use of district stickers on fruit affect consumers' preference for the product?
An interest in formal decision making issues could lead to a question like:
What is the effect of the level of farmers' education and attendance at field days on their attitude to changing the production systems which they use?
Synopsis (or abstract)
The purpose of this section is to provide a summary of the important aspects of the project in about 200 - 250 words. A reader should be able to know the area of investigation, briefly how the investigation was done and the key findings.

A structure which can be built upon is something like the following:
This research project investigates the question ..... The investigation was carried out by ..... It was found that ..... The implications for this finding are .....
Literature review
The purpose of the literature review is to find out how others have investigated similar questions and what others have found about the same and similar investigations. A literature review should contain only material relevant to the research question being investigated.

Your literature review can vary in length depending upon the available literature. However, it should include a discussion of possible research approaches as well as existing results and findings of similar research.

The following points might help you in putting your literature review together.
1. Reviews should go beyond the general information provided in two or three school textbooks.
2. A literature review is not an assignment, as in the junior school. For example a common problem is illustrated in the following example:
  
  Research question: Does increasing the nitrogen content of soil improve the protein content of rice grain?
  
  Literature review: Discussion on introduction of rice to Australia; role of rice in our diet; where and how rice is grown; importance of protein content in the grain; value of rice to Australian economy; etc etc!
  
  Here the literature review goes over all that is important about rice. This is not the role of a literature review. It should focus on what is known about the research question and how this information has been created.
  
  Another 'assignment like' problem is the production of a literature review which includes no referencing, but merely a story with a bibliography. The difference between a bibliography approach and a referencing approach is illustrated below by a brief paragraph from a potential project:
  1. Bibliography approach:
    "Age at puberty also strongly influences the cycling rate of first calves and, to a lesser extent, the cycling rate of second and third calves. Age at puberty affects the whole productive life of the females. Because of the 95% cycling rate in the first 3 weeks period of joining of early pubertal calves, the average calving takes place 20 days after the planned start of calving. This is due to the increased conception rate, which compacts the calving period".
    You should not use this bibliography approach.
  2. Referencing approach:
    "Age of puberty also strongly influences the calving rate of first calves and, to a lesser extent, the cycling rate of second and third calves (Blackey, 1992). Age at puberty affects the whole productive life of the females. Because of the 95% cycling rate in the first 3 weeks period of joining of early pubertal calves the average calving takes place 20 days after the planned start of the calving. This is due to the increased conception rate which compacts the calving period (Donaldson, 1991)."
  The point here is that all major ideas and data in a literature review should be referenced in the text by the author's surname and year, and the full reference is then put in a reference list.
3. Your literature review should be presented in your own words and not include large slabs of copied or photocopied material. Short quotes of a phrase or a sentence are fine. By using your own words you demonstrate to the examiner that you can interpret and understand the material you have read.
4. A literature review is not an annotated bibliography, i.e. a list of books and journal articles with a brief description of what each is about.
5. Care should be taken in using promotional or advertising material in your literature review. Your literature review should present a balanced and unbiased approach, discussing both sides of an opinion if appropriate.
Research Methodology
The method or methods of research can be divided into two basic kinds:
1. Quantitative research
2. Qualitative research.
The selection of the best method depends on the kind of research question you are investigating. Any research question related to the effect of a variable on quantity or quality of production is usually done using the scientific method of controlled experimentation; this is classic quantitative research. For example, what effect do micronutrients have on the yield of barley? In this experiment you might look at 3 or 4 levels of micronutrients in 3 replicates of each. This research is analysed by using numbers and statistical means.

It is important in doing any quantitative research that the rules of scientific experimentation are followed. This means including a control, using sufficient randomisation and replication.

Quantitative research also includes the collection of data on costs or prices, marketing statistics and government production statistics.

If, on the other hand, research is being undertaken about the social aspects of agriculture, consumer preferences, management styles, attitudes to change or case studies of farms, qualitative research is involved. Methods used in this kind of research include:
- observation (descriptive observations)
- questionnaires
- structured and unstructured interviews
- focus groups
- case studies
- document analysis (newspapers, books, Hansard, government policy, historical papers).
Just as quantitative research has strict rules as to how it should be carried out, so does qualitative research.

You can find out more about research approaches in the following references:
- Bentley, I. (1984) Topics in Biology : Research Investigation.. Nelson, Melbourne.
- Smith, DL. (1989) People, Culture and Change; Becoming your own researcher. Social Sciences Press.
- White, P., Davies, J. and Donald, G. (1993) Society and Culture Personal Interest Projects . NSW Department of School Education Learning Materials Production Centre.
- Wadsworth, Y. (1984) Do it Yourself Social Research. Victorian Council of Social Science, Melbourne.

Results
The results section of your report involves presenting the data collected in the research phase. It is important to set out the material in such a way that it makes it easy for a reader to see the results in clearly outlined tables and well labelled graphs. The following hints may help you in this.

Large amounts of raw data should be included as appendices at the end of the report. Summary tables should be provided in the body of the report.
Many graphs are provided where the axes are not labelled. While we are talking about labelling graphs, it is important to put the labels around the correct way. The bottom longitudinal axis should have the variable which you plan to change in known ways (i.e. the independent or manipulated variable). Such things as fertiliser rates, amount of animal nutrition, day length, are factors which are varied in an experiment. The vertical axis should have the variable which you measure and don't know what the value will be (i.e. the dependant or responding variable). These include things like growth rate measures (plant dry weights, animal growth), grain yield, egg laying and other production values.
If the vertical axis is not continuous or does not begin at zero, this should be indicated appropriately. You should also be wary of scales which aim to accentuate small differences between experimental data.

How many graphs? A common problem in reports is the over-use of different graphs, in particular-computer generated graphs. Simple two-dimensional graphs are usually more appropriate than the computer-generated three-dimensional ones. Let us consider the following set of data:

**Effect of nitrogen on the dry matter units in oats**
Nitrogen rates	Variety 1	Variety 2	Variety 3
0 kg/ha	60	50	80
10 kg/ha	70	60	100
20 kg/ha	90	75	140
40 kg/ha	120	100	190
80 kg/ha	180	120	220
120 kg/ha	185	122	230

The best way to represent data like this is on one set of axes. This means the reader can visually compare the response of each variety to the changing nitrogen levels. Graphs are useful ways of presenting data because they give a visual picture of the effects and relationships of the variables involved. When drawing graphs, you should recognise that the mean value of a number of replicates should be calculated and then used to construct graphs.

In many projects students feel volume is important and will produce 3 separate graphs, one for each variety, on different pages and sometimes even with changes to the scale on each. This means that visual comparison is not possible and the value of graphing the data is lost.

The presentation of qualitative data, such as material from interviews or documents, presents a different challenge. Some of the approaches include:

Analysis of the interview responses for similar ideas. In this kind of data presentation, a table of common responses with the number of responses, in each category, is a useful approach, e.g.

**Results from interviews of 50 farmers about attitude to changing practices**
Common comments	Number of responses
Go to 5 or more field days	15
Don't go to field days	10
I use what I learned from experience	23
Use district agronomist for advice	17
Take notice of neighbours' practices	28
Read rural magazines and advice material often	12

Listing quotes which give common ideas or threads under major headings is a very useful way to present interview data.
Create your own written descriptions which give common personal groupings. For example, from the data on interviews on farmers' attitudes to change, you might come up with a descriptions like:

Farmers who had undertaken tertiary study of some kind (Uni/TAFE), regularly attended field days, had larger than average properties and were likely to make regular changes to farm practices, such as using newest varieties, changing chemicals and their use patterns etc.

Such a pen picture can then be supported with selected quotes.

Subsequently 2 or 3 other pen pictures then provide, in a succinct way of organising, your analysis of the interviews into common groups for matching with other relevant data.

Data Analysis
The most common problems in this area relate to statistical analysis. It is valid to ask for assistance (provided it is acknowledged) in regard to what kind of statistics are the best to use for your experiment and to use computer programs to provide the handling of the data. However, you must show the reader that you understand the process and what the results of the analysis mean. The two most common problems are the following:
1. The student provides a print-out from a computer of an analysis, for example a t-test. The print out includes a t-value. The test then says something like: The t-test shows the results are significant". Statements like this do not indicate why a t-test was the most appropriate test; the t-value must be related to something in order for it to be concluded that it is significant. In other words, the student did not show understanding of why this test was used and how it confirms a significant or non-significant result.
2. Statements like the following are not uncommon:
  "The statistical analysis showed that the results were not significant. However, because the means are different and the plants looked healthier, variety A is really better than variety B".
  Statements like this show that the student does not understand the role of statistics in the analysis of an experiment.
Conclusion and Recommendations
The role of the conclusion and recommendations should be to tie together the project into a coherent whole. Good conclusions refer back to the research question and the results highlighted in the literature review. This enables a comparison of your results with the findings of others. Some students take the view that, because their results differed from those previously found, all previous work must be wrong and their method or results should be adopted by whole industries. This kind of argument clearly shows a lack of understanding about replication as a means of confirming results. Differences should be noted and the suggestion made that, if this result is valid, it could be further confirmed or it could have some telling implications for the industry. The conclusion should also include a discussion that reviews the techniques and experimental design used and suggest improvements and outline further investigation, e.g.
1. other research questions which arose during the project;
2. further replication that would improve the general applicability of the results, e.g. repeating the experiment on different soils or in a range of districts etc. would enable more general recommendations;
3. because of the relatively small number of animals used a similar experiment with larger numbers of animals would provide a better statistical analysis.
Ethical and welfare issues
As the researcher, you have a responsibility to ensure that your experiment is conducted using proper and appropriate methodology that can give you the best chance of achieving valid results. Some of the ethical and welfare issues you may need to consider include the following:
- the funding of any research. This may not relate directly to your own research as it is unlikely that you will actually be paid by a business to carry out your own research but it may be appropriate to consider who funded other research you have examined in your literature review. This applies to the use of promotional information that some candidates may use in their literature review.
- animal welfare issues. Wherever animals are used in research it must be done within the requirements of the Animal Research Act. For schools, these are set out in the document, Animals in schools: Animal welfare guidelines for teachers. If you are planning to use animals in your project, then you must ensure that you understand any legislative requirements that may affect your methodology.
- human health issues. Many of these are covered by the principles of occupational health and safety and deal with the use of chemicals, farm machinery and protective clothing.
- ownership and the control of new developments in science. This is clearly illustrated with the issue of plant variety rights and companies patenting plants and animals in order to control their use.
- the environmental impact of new technologies in agriculture.
- if you are using second-hand data to manipulate for your own research question, then you must be prepared to acknowledge the source of the original research.