Lessons from ecological field work
It’s the end of another field season, the time when all my undergraduate helpers leave and my office falls silent during the cold winter. As usual, I feel bittersweet about the transition. I have loved my time outside, in the beautiful New England woods, and I’ve loved the process of mentoring my students. However, I cannot wait to have a few uninterrupted weeks in my office to focus on some of the more cerebral aspects of academic scholarship.
I thought I would try to concentrate the wisdom I’ve found during my field campaigns, as modest as they have been, for I feel field work has some lessons that apply year-round:
1. Whatever happens, whatever goes wrong, keep heading steadily toward your goal. In field work, something is always going wrong- it rains, the equipment breaks, someone twists an ankle- but you just have to make do.
2. Learn your research protocol by heart, and then keep doing it the same way by force of habit. Inevitably, moments occur when a shortcut to the research protocol appears possible. There shortcuts are almost always mistakes.
3. Motivate your employees for the reasons why the protocol is what it is. This empowers them to let you, the boss, know when you’re doing something boneheaded.
