Real-Life Communication
Virologists are like other scientists who have to read reports to
keep up with changes in their field, and have to compile their own data.
"You
need to write reports and grant requests," says Merritt Nelson, a virologist
in Arizona. "The better you are able to communicate what you are doing, the
better chance of success you will have."
Currently, you want to research
plant viruses that are transmitted by insects. You are pitching the idea to
a colleague in the form of a written report. After reading the report, she
has a few questions.
The report
Our current objective
is to develop management programs for plant viruses that are transmitted by
insects. The approach is to utilize existing information on the epidemiological
characteristics of the viruses to establish a database.
This database
would incorporate extensive, geographically organized information on the virus,
vector, alternate hosts, crop sequence patterns and climatic data. The data
are being collected and organized in such a way as to promote easy export
from the database to mapping and spatial analysis programs.
A hand-held
global positioning systems (GPS) unit is used in the collection of field data.
With this system, a variety of maps on different scales, in color or black
and white, can be made. They can display and visualize the spatial relationships
of the components of the disease epidemics.
(Source: Merritt Nelson's
research goals, used with permission)
- What are you trying to do?
- What approach will you take?
- How are you going to collect your data?
How do you answer?