Introduction to Zoo Research

What is Research in Zoos?

• Research = investigative efforts of advancing theory, discovering new knowledge, solving practical problems, or helping a process perform better

• Conducted Either:

  • In-situ = conservation within animal's natural habitat

  • Ex-situ = conservation outside of animal's natural habitat or ecological niche

Benefits and Challenges to Zoo Research

• Research in Zoos Serves to:

  • Help in furthering zoo operations

  • Increase knowledge and improve practice in breeding, conservation, wellbeing, etc.

  • Provide access to animals and biological samples to the scientific community

• Challenges in Zoo Research:

  • Lack of controllable conditions

  • Opportunistic species status

  • Small sample size

Scientific Method - How we Approach Research

• Observe and describe something, develop research questions

• Formulate a hypothesis that explains something

• Use hypothesis to make predictions

• Test predictions (via designing an experiment or observation)

• Reject or accept the null hypothesis (via data analysis)

• Discuss, connect, disseminate, and peer review

• Modify hypotheses and repeat

Developing Productive Research Questions

• You can support it with empirical data

  • Empirical = information acquired through experimentation and structured observation

• The answer typically has implications beyond the single case you study

• Does not seek to make value judgements, but can inform them

Developing Productive Hypothesis(es)

• Hypothesis = a tentative statement that proposes a possible explanation to some phenomenon or event

• Productive hypotheses are testable, falsifiable statements, which help to develop predictions and identify tentative relationships

• Two parts to a formalized hypothesis (must contain both):

  • "If" portion contains the testable proposed relationship

  • "Then" portion is the prediction of expected results from an experiment

Developing your Experiment: Identifying your Variables

• Variable(s) = factors within an experiment that change and are measured

• Independent Variable (aka explanatory, predictor, casual, experimental)

  • Variables we manipulate or compare, which may change the dependent variable

  • Often have different levels (e.g., high, medium, low)

• Dependent Variable (aka response, outcome, explained)

  • Variable expected to change as a result of manipulating  the independent variable

  • What we measure, the presumed effect

• Control Variables (aka control, constant)

  • Factors we deliberately maintain/leave unchanged

• Confounding Variable(s) (aka constant)