Horticultural Research II

This course covers the practical skills needed to carry out research in a horticultural setting, from identifying research issues and gathering technical information through to using specialised techniques such as fishbone diagrams and lateral thinking. You will learn research planning and design, basic statistics for presenting data, and how to collect, log and analyse information. The final lesson covers writing up research findings as a structured report. Suitable for anyone needing to conduct or interpret research within a horticultural or scientific role.

Advances your researching skills 100 hours of self-paced study Start any time, work at your own pace Relate your work to any branch of horticulture COURSE CONTENT There are 7 lessons in this module as follows: Identifying research issues and determining research priorities Acquisition of technical information Specialised research techniques Research planning and designing Statistics Conducting research Writing reports. WHAT NEEDS RESEARCH Research can be valuable, contributing to our understanding of what factors are influencing observed outcomes, which need changing, and what specific changes may be needed. On the other hand, irrelevant or needless research, no matter how well done or how detailed, can waste time, energy and money that could have been much better applied elsewhere. Therefore, the first step in doing relevant, worthwhile research is to identify areas, social groups, markets, or organisations that might benefit from research, and the kind of information that might be useful. This is a vital step as much of the governmental and private funding today is tied to these constraints. The second step is to arrive at a specific topic for research, one that clearly articulates the aim of the research, and defines the focus for the research. It defines clearly the goals: what are we doing the research for? The third step is to consider whether the proposed research is realistic. This is a necessary step on the analysis as it will help determining the strategies, how we will approach and study the problem. Can it be done in a realistic time frame? Has it already been thoroughly researched by someone else? Are there still important questions to be asked? Is there enough information? Steps two and three may need to be repeated several times before the final research topic is identified. Aims Determine areas where there is a valid need to research processes relevant to horticultural research in today’s social, economic, political and environmental context. Acquire and demonstrate skills in locating and reviewing scientific and technical information. Develop and explain alternative research and observational techniques for a particular Horticultural research study. To design a quality and focused research project addressing a social, technological, environmental and/or economic issues that impact on Horticulture today. The research component must allocate resources needed (time, financial and human resources). Demonstrate and explain basic statistical knowledge used for research with emphasis on your ability to present and monitor given data. Conduct a quality and focused research project addressing a social, technological, environmental and/or economic issue that impact on Horticulture today. Demonstrate skills in report writing What is in each lesson? 1. Identifying Research Issues and Determining Research Priorities Introduction: first, second, third steps Finding research ideas Brainstorming Steps to brainstorming Mind maps How to mind map Concept mapping Determining research priorities Beginning your research Formulating a research topic Is the research feasible Formulating a hypothesis Terminology 2. Acquisition of Technical Information Literature review Research methods Basic methods of collecting information: experimental, correlation, questionnaires, surveys, tests, document review Naturalistic observation Focus groups Case studies 3. Specialised Research Techniques Selecting a research method Fishbone diagrams Applications for cause and effect diagrams Lateral thinking Lateral thinking techniques Pareto analysis Observations Root cause analysis 4. Research Planning and Designing Project planning Defining the problem, possible solutions and objectives Problem tree analysis tool SWOT analysis Prioritise objectives and define activities Allocate resources Results and assessment 5. Statistics Introduction Data presentation Measures of central tendency Distributions 6. Conducting Research Collecting and logging data Developing a data base structure Data transformations Analyzing data Managing data Analytical procedure 7. Writing Reports Reporting results Report structure Contents of a research report (example) Pitfalls to avoid How This Course Can Help You This course builds on our Horticulture Research I module. It goes deeper into research methods and statistical analyses but also incorporates some new areas. Graduates completing this course will have a solid understanding of different approaches to research methods and design. The course is of most value to those looking to work in the following fields: Research Teaching Horticultural Science Garden History Botany Plant Breeding Botanic Gardens WHAT NEXT? Register to Study - Go to “It’s Easy to Enrol” box at the top of the page and you can enrol now. or Get Advice – Email us at info@acsedu.co.uk OR Use our FREE COUNSELLING SERVICE to contact a tutor CLICK TO CONTACT US