Contents;
Preface ;
Acknowledgments;
1 Component processes of ecological research
Summary
1.1 Questions about the process of scientific research
1.2 Scientific methodology
1.3 Distinction between progress and process in scientific research
1.4 Section I: Developing an analytical framework
1.5 Section II: Making a synthesis for scientific inference
1.6 Section III: Working in the research community
1.7 Section IV: Defining a methodology for ecological research
1.8 Synopsis of methodological problems facing a new researcher in
ecology 11
1.9 How to use this book to develop your research skills 11
1.10 Further reading 13
Introduction to Section I: Developing an analytical
framework 15
2 Five processes of research planning 19
Summary 19
2.1 Introduction 20
2.2 Process 1: Defining a research question 21
2.2.1 Origins and types of research questions 21
2.2.2 Analysis of questions 24
2.3 Process 2: Applying creativity to develop new research ideas 28
2.4 Process 3: Ensuring the proposed research has relevance to prior
scientific knowledge 29
2.5 Process 4: Ensuring the proposed research is technically feasible and
can be completed with available resources 32
2.6 Process 5: Determining how conclusions can be drawn 33
2.6.1 Developing a data statement: An example 34
2.6.2 Using statistics to illuminate the problem, not support a
position 38
2.7 Further reading
3 Conceptual and propositional analysis for defining
research problems 41
Summary 41
3.1 Introduction 41
3.2 Constituents and properties of theories 42
3.3 Conceptual and propositional analysis 56
3.3.1 Phase One: Identifying the principal issues 57
3.3.2 Phase Two: Classifying concepts according to their status in
the progress of research 58
3.3.3 Phase Three: Examining the complete research procedure 65
3.4 Representing theories as networks 65
3.5 What can be gained from a conceptual and propositional
analysis? 67
3.5.1 Deciding whether you can assume something or must
investigate it 69
3.5.2 Understanding logical relationships between different pieces
of knowledge 69
3.5.3 Assessing how complete a theory is 70
3.5.4 Knowing when to start practical investigation 70
3.6 Conclusion 71
3.7 Further reading 71
4 Development of a research plan 73
Summary 73
4.1 Introduction 73
4.2 Process 1: Defining a research question 74
4.2.1 The first description 74
4.2.2 Initial development of a theory for the problem 76
4.2.3 First definitions 77
4.2.4 First consideration of Process 4: Ensuring the proposed research
is technically feasible and can be completed with available
resources 78
4.2.5 First consideration of Process 2: Applying creativity to develop
new research ideas 79
4.2.6 Continuation of Process 1: Defining a research question 80
4.3 Process 4: Ensuring the proposed research is technically feasible and
can be completed with available resources 85
4.4 Process 3: Ensuring the proposed research has relevance to prior
scientific knowledge 93
4.5 Process 2: Applying creativity to develop new research ideas 94
4.6 Process 5: Determining how conclusions can be drawn 95
4.7 Steel’s comments on the planning process after completing her
Master’s thesis 101
4.8 Further reading 10
5 How theories develop and how to use them 103
Summary 103
5.1 Introduction 103
5.2 Development of a theory from a simple postulate: Late-Quaternary
vegetation change in central Alaska 108
5.2.1 Stage 1: Rejecting a simple postulate 108
5.2.2 Stage 2: Exploring for spatial and temporal changes 111
5.2.3 Stage 3: Introducing axioms from tree ecology 113
5.2.4 Stage 4: Increasing the precision of the theory 114
5.2.5 Stage 5: Working towards explanations that are coherent with
meteorological theories 115
5.2.6 Assessment of theory development 116
5.3 Practical application of a theory: Hybridization in fish species 118
5.4 Development, properties, and use of ecological theories 127
5.5 Further reading 129
6 The art of measurement and experiment 131
Summary 131
6.1 Introduction 131
6.2 Principles of measurement for new concepts 133
6.3 Experimental analysis of ecological systems 136
6.4 Planning an analytical experiment: An example – control of
photosynthesis rate of Pinus strobus trees 142
6.4.1 Results from an improved measurement technique 142
6.4.2 Observing an anomaly 143
6.4.3 Making a conceptual analysis of the problem 146
6.4.4 Constructing multiple postulates 149
6.4.5 Choosing a postulate to study 152
6.4.6 Defining the experimental conditions 156
6.4.7 Developing a measurement 158
6.4.8 Designing treatment application, replication, and controls 159
6.4.9 Investigating ancillary processes to aid interpretation and
assessment 164
6.5 Whole-system analytical experiments 164
6.6 Discussion 165
6.7 Further reading 167
7 Methods of reasoning in research 169
Summary 169
7.1 Introduction 170
7.2 Principles of propositional logic 171
7.3 The use of propositional logic in ecological research 178
7.4 The hypothetico-deductive method and use of falsification in
scientiWc reasoning 183
7.5 An exercise in choosing between postulates expected to be true and
postulates expected to be false 187
7.6 How to decide whether to attempt confirmation or falsification 189
7.7 Using contrasts 195
7.8 Causality 196
7.9 A strategy for constructing theory using multiple working
postulates 200
7.10 Discussion 201
7.11 Further reading 202
8 Assessment of postulates 203
Summary 203
8.1 Introduction 204
8.2 Refining postulates using exploratory analysis 206
8.3 Developing a scientific procedure and set of measurements 210
8.4 Satisfying the logic required for statistical inference 219
8.4.1 Constructing and assessing a statistical hypothesis 226
8.4.2 Completing the data statement 231
8.5 Discussion 231
8.6 Further reading 234
9 Individual philosophies and their methods 235
Summary 235
9.1 Introduction 235
9.2 Initial assumptions 239
9.2.1 Teleology 239
9.2.2 Parsimony 242
9.2.3 Holism and reductionism 243
9.2.4 Teleology, parsimony, and reductionism in ecology 244
9.3 First formalizations of methodology 251
9.3.1 Empiricism 251
9.3.2 Rationalism 254
9.3.3 Empiricism and rationalism in ecology 256
9.4 Uncertainty about the objectivity of method 264
9.4.1 Criticism 264
9.4.2 Relativism 265
9.4.3 Statistical experimentalism 266
9.5 Discussion 267
9.6 Further reading 268
Introduction to Section II: Making a synthesis for
scientific inference 269
10 Properties and domains of ecological concepts 279
Summary 279
10.1 Introduction 280
10.2 Definition and purpose of ecological concepts 281
10.3 The domain of functional and integrative concepts 288
10.4 Example of use and development of ecological concepts and their
domains
10.4.1 Developing definitions of natural and functional concepts 291
10.4.2 Using functional concepts to define an integrative concept 293
10.4.3 Making inference about an integrative concept 300
10.5 Discussion 305
10.6 Further reading 308
11 Strategies of scientific research in ecology 309
Summary 309
11.1 Introduction 310
11.2 Does ecological science advance through recurring revolutions? 311
11.2.1 The ecosystem revolution 313
11.2.2 The progress of normal science 315
11.2.3 Did a revolution terminate the paradigm? 319
11.2.4 How useful is Kuhn’s theory for understanding research
strategy? 323
11.2.5 Scientific inference and the ecosystem paradigm 324
11.3 The methodology of scientific research programs 327
11.3.1 A strategy for continuous assessment 327
11.3.2 The components of a scientific research program 328
11.3.3 Top-down and bottom-up forces in population and
community ecology 330
11.3.4 Criticisms of the methodology of scientific research
programs 342
11.4 The investigation of domains 344
11.5 Discussion 348
11.6 Further reading 349
12 Use of mathematical models for constructing
explanations in ecology 351
Summary 351
12.1 Introduction 352
12.2 Dynamic systems models 353
12.2.1 Simple differential equation models 353
12.2.2 Using dynamic systems models to predict the unexpected 359
12.2.3 Fitting dynamic systems models to ecological systems 363
12.3 Statistical models of dependence 368
12.3.1 Modeling dependence in time series as a stochastic process 369
12.3.2 Assessing a stochastic time series model as an explain
12.4 Systems simulation models 378
12.4.1 Objectives, theory, and model design 379
12.4.2 Calibration and validation 382
12.4.3 Assessing using multiple outputs 385
12.5 Discussion 389
12.6 Further reading
Introduction to Section III: Working in the research
community 393
13 Scientific research as a social process 395
Summary 395
13.1 Introduction 396
13.2 Social influences and social structures 397
13.2.1 The balance between norms and counternorms in scientists’
behavior 397
13.2.2 Cooperation and competition between individual
scientists 403
13.2.3 Fraud and misconduct in science 407
13.2.4 The role of gender in scientific debate and discovery 410
13.3 Creation and use of scientific literature 412
13.3.1 Constructing a scientific paper 413
13.3.2 Peer review 415
13.3.3 Problems of quantity and quality 421
13.3.4 Literature citation and its analysis 423
13.4 Developing and using explicit standards of criticism to construct
objective knowledge 425
13.5 Discussion 427
13.6 Further reading 429
14 Values and standpoints and their influence on
research 431
Summary 431
14.1 Introduction 431
14.2 Standpoints in science, management, and policy 433
14.2.1 Scientists’ standpoints 433
14.2.2 Managerial standpoints 439
14.3 Reviewing and funding scientific research 443
14.3.1 Research proposals and their peer review 444
14.3.2 Scientific research with policy implications 452
14.4 Science, scientists, and society 455
14.5 Discussion 462
14.6 Further reading 463
Introduction to Section IV: Defining a methodology
for ecological research 465
15 The methodology of progressive synthesis 467
Summary 467
15.1 Introduction 468
15.2 The standpoint of Progressive Synthesis 468
15.2.1 Types of acceptable explanation 469
15.2.2 Certainty in scientific inference 472
15.3 Principles of Progressive Synthesis 47
15.3.1 Principle I: Continuous application of just and elective
criticism 475
15.3.2 Principle II: Precision is required in defining axioms and
concepts, postulates and data statements, and theories 476
15.3.3 Principle III: Explicit standards must be used to examine the
relation between theory and data 478
15.4 Components of the method of Progressive Synthesis 481
15.4.1 Component 1: Analyze the question and seek to use
contrastive techniques to focus the research 482
15.4.2 Component 2: Expect to use different techniques of
investigation as theories develop and new types of questions are
asked 487
15.4.3 Component 3: Refine both measurement and concept
definitions 488
15.4.4 Component 4: Specify the new synthesis resulting from the
research 488
15.4.5 Component 5: Define explanatory coherence of the synthesis
to make a scientific inference 493
15.5 Discussion 494
15.6 Further reading 496
16 Criticisms and improvements for the scientific
the method in ecology 497
Summary 497
16.1 Introduction 497
16.2 Criticisms of ecological research 499
16.2.1 There has been lack of progress in ecology 499
16.2.2 No general theory has emerged 500
16.2.3 Ecological concepts are inadequate 503
16.2.4 Ecologists fail to test their theories 505
16.3 Suggestions made for improving ecological research 506
16.3.1 Suitable research objectives for ecology 507
16.3.2 Forms of reasoning that should be used 511
16.3.3 The relation between concepts and theories 511
16.4 Ideals and strategy of Progressive Synthesis 514
16.5 Further reading 518
Appendix: Suggestions for instructors 521
References 525
Glossary 541
Author index 555
Subject index