Trouble Shooting

One of our biggest challenges was coming up with our final research topic. Our original idea was to compare soil texture at different elevations, but that proposal did not incorporate enough dependent variables. We worked out this problem by looking at the data again and recognizing possible relationships.

When we were making our plots on the hill, it was unclear whether the top or the bottom of the hill would be plot 1. We sorted out the issue pretty quickly, but we took a few samples from the wrong site. Make sure that you get your labeling straight before you move on.

Another issue that we had was that our humus readings were too low. It turned out that we had been using the wrong tool to measure the soil, and we weren't using enough of it. We luckily realized this mistake after the first round of samples, so we were sure to do it right the next time. Make sure to check with your instructor if you aren't confident in your procedures!

Our final issue was realizing that several of our experiment results were insignificant. If we could go back and change something, we would either collect our samples further apart or confirm that we collected our samples from the actual top and bottom of the hill. All of our samples were taken from somewhere in the middle of the hill. It is possible, for example, that the top of the hill had significantly less humus because there was no forest above it blowing matter down.