Data Analysis and Scientific Writing:
A Training Workshop for MOR2 Researchers
Pre-Workshop Homework Assignment
Reviewing the Literature and Writing a Research Question
A good scientist knows how to ask good research questions. A good research question has the
following characteristics:
1. Original—it contributes something new to our knowledge. It is not a question that has
been asked and answered many times before—at least not in your system.
2. Relevant—it has direct bearing on a practical problem or theoretical issue in science
3. Clear and specific—it is easy to understand and unambiguous, and clearly states the
variables involved.
4. Feasible—it can be answered with the system, methods and/or data at hand
5. Ethical—answering the question causes no harm to humans, animals or the
environment
To make sure that the question is original and relevant, it should be grounded in the
researcher’s knowledge about the issue or problem, past research on the topic, and relevant
scientific theory related to the topic. This is why a good scientist will thoroughly review the
existing scientific literature related to their topic before identifying their precise research
question. The literature review justifies the need for the research and demonstrates the
originality and relevance of the research question.
Homework Assignment Part 1: Literature Review
In order to get the most out of our data analysis and writing workshop, you need to have a
good research question that is grounded in the existing scientific knowledge about your topic.
In any scientific manuscript you need to summarize the existing knowledge and research about
your topic in the introduction and background sections. To help you develop an original and
relevant question, we ask that you do some homework before the workshop.
1. Search the Mongolian and/or international literature for published, scientific sources
about your topic. Try to find at least 10 published, peer-reviewed papers or book
chapters about your topic (more if you are able). You may use google scholar or any
other search engine or data base that you can access to identify papers. You are
encouraged to use the pdf library of past papers on Mongolian rangelands that was
provided to you at the 2013 MOR2 Data Analysis Workshop. If you locate a citation, title
or abstract to a paper that you are unable to access, send the citation to me at
maria.fernandez-gimenez@colostate.edu and I will try to obtain and email it to you.
2. For each paper, identify:
a. Theory that informed the research
b. Research question(s) and objectives
c. Hypothesis
d. Research design & data collection methods
e. Data analysis methods
f. Key results
g. Conclusions
You may want to organize your notes about each paper into a matrix, where each row is
a paper and the columns are items a-g above. This will help you to compare, contrast
and synthesize past studies on your topic. See example attached.
3. Write a 1-page summary (longer if you wish) that synthesizes the past research related
to your topic based on the 10 papers you found. In your synthesis you may want to
discuss
a. The different methods that were used to study the topic
b. The systems in which it was studied
c. The similarities or differences in the results and conclusions from past studies.
Do they all arrive at the same conclusions or do their results conflict?
d. The remaining, unanswered questions or gaps in knowledge about this topic
Homework Assignment Part 2: Revise Research Question
Based on your literature review and the guidelines for a good research question, revise your
original research question(s). Make sure that they are questions that can be answered with the
existing MOR2 dataset.
Literature Review Table
Source
Theory
Research Q
Hypothesis
Research Design
Analysis
Key Results
Conclusions
FernandezGimenez &
Allen Diaz
1999
Nonequilibrium
rangeland
dynamics &
Range
succession
model
How to 3 different
Mongolian steppe
ecosystems respond
to variability in
grazing pressure and
interannual rainfall
variation?
Desert-steppe
would exhibit
characteristics of
non-equilibrium
dynamics and
mountain-steppe
would show
characteristics of
equilibrium
dynamics
Compared vegetation
response (species and
functional group cover,
biomass, richness,
diversity)to grazing
along piospheres
(distance from water
used as proxy for
grazing pressure) in 3
contrasting ecological
zones
Repeated
measures ANOVA
with year as the
repeated
measure and
distance from
water as factor.
Each ecozone
analyzed
separately
D-S: most
vegetation
variables varied
between years
but not with
grazing
Steppe: mixed
and interactive
response of
vegetation to
grazing and
rainfall
M-S: Most
variables
responded to
grazing as RC
model predicts,
some also
responded to
rainfall
Desert steppe
shows nonequilibrium
dynamics,
mountain steppe
equilibrium
dynamics and
steppe
ecosystem a mix
of both. A
diversity of
indicators is
needed to
understand
community
dynamics,