Horticultural Research II

A module from the RHS M.Hort (based on curriculum developed by the Royal Horticultural Society); this can be taken either as part of the M.Hort Program, as a module in one of our other qualifications or as a stand alone course (Ideal for use as a Professional Development program for persons working in the horticulture industry anywhere in the world).

 

Diana Cole B.A. (Hons), Higher Dip. (Garden Design), RHS Advanced Cert. Horticulture, Cert Admin.Mgt., Dip. Inst. Personnel Management

In addition to her RHS horticulture, garden design, City & Guild construction, NPTC pesticide/legislation and business/management qualifications, Diana has a variety of skills drawn from setting up Arbella Gardens, a landscape gardening business. She also has administrative, management and training delivery experience drawn from her employment in other organisations such as the NHS and other educational institutions such as schools & universities. She has augmented her training expertise having gained the Preparing to Teach in the Life Long Learning Sector qualification. She also has experience gained through working as a volunteer in a number of different roles including amenity style gardening in parks and practical conservation work.

.Maggi Brown Cert.Ed.(Environment)
Maggi is regarded as an expert in Organic Growing throughout the UK, having worked for two decades as Education Officer at the world renowned Henry Doubleday Research Association (now Garden Organic). She has been active in education, environmental management and horticulture across the UK for more them three decades.

Yvonne Sharpe RHS Cert.Hort, Dip.Hort, M.Hort, Cert.Ed., Dip.Mgt.
Over 30 years of experience in horticulture, education and management, Yvonne hastravelled widely within and beyond Europe, and has worked in many areas of horticulture from garden centres to horticultural therapy. She has served on industry committees and been actively involved with amateur garden clubs for decades.

Thady Barrett M.Hort (RHS) Thady is a consultant to the horticulture industry in the UK, with particular interest in the ornamental plant sector. Previously a senior lecturer at Writtle College for 20 years which included being course tutor for RHS qualifications. Wide ranging practical horticultural experience but with specific interest in propagation techniques and plant production technologies. Member of the International Plant Propagators Society (IPPS) and awarded the Rose Bowl Award in 2009 in recognition of his contribution to the society

 

Lesson Structure

There are 7 lessons in this course:

1. Identifying Research Issues and Determining Research Priorities
   • Introduction: first, second, third steps
   • Finding research ideas
   • Brainstorming
   • Steps to brainstorming
   • Mind maps
   • How to mind map
   • Concept mapping
   • Determining research priorities
   • Beginning your research
   • Formulating a research topic
   • Is the reseach feasible
   • Formulating a hgypothesis
   • Terminology
2. Acquisition of Technical Information
   • Literature review
   • Research methods
   • Basic methods of collecting information: experimental, correlation, questionnaires, surveys, tests, document review
   • Naturalistic observation
   • Focus groups
   • Case studies
3. Specialised Research Techniques
   • Selecting a research method
   • Fishbone diagrams
   • Applications for cause and effect diagrams
   • Lateral thinking
   • Lateral thinking techniques
   • Pareto analysis
   • Observations
   • Root cause analysis
4. Research Planning and Designing
   • Project planning
   • Defining the problem, possible solutions and objectives
   • Problem tree analysis tool
   • SWOT analysis
   • Prioritise objectives and define activities
   • Allocate resources
   • Results and assessment
5. Statistics
   • Introduction
   • Data presentation
   • Measures of central tendancy
   • Distributions
6. Conducting Research
   • Collecting and logging data
   • Developing a data base structure
   • Data transformations
   • Analyzing data
   • Managing data
   • Analytical procedure
7. Writing Reports
   • Reporting results
   • Report structure
   • Contents of a research report (example)
   • Pitfalls to avoid

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• Determine areas where there is a valid need to research processes relevant to horticultural research in today’s social, economic, political and environmental context.
• Acquire and demonstrate skills in locating and reviewing scientific and technical information.
• Develop and explain alternative research and observational techniques for a particular Horticultural research study.
• Design a quality and focused research project addressing a social, technological, environmental and/or economic issues that impact on Horticulture today. The research component must allocate resources needed (time, financial and human resources).
• Demonstrate and explain basic statistical knowledge used for research with emphasis on your ability to present and monitor given data.
• Conduct a quality and focused research project addressing a social, technological, environmental and/or economic issue that impact on Horticulture today.
• Demonstrate skills in report writing

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WHAT to RESEARCH?

Research can be valuable, contributing to our understanding of what factors are influencing observed outcomes, which need changing, and what specific changes may be needed. On the other hand, irrelevant or needless research, no matter how well done or how detailed, can waste time, energy and money that could have been much better applied elsewhere.

Therefore, the first step in doing relevant, worthwhile research is to identify areas, social groups, markets, or organisations that might benefit from research, and the kind of information that might be useful. This is a vital step as much of the governmental and private funding today is tied to these constraints.

The second step is to arrive at a specific topic for research, one that clearly articulates the aim of the research, and defines the focus for the research. It defines clearly the goals: what are we doing the research for?

The third step is to consider whether the proposed research is realistic. This is a necessary step on the analysis as it will help determining the strategies, how we will approach and study the problem. Can it be done in a realistic time frame? Has it already been thoroughly researched by someone else? Are there still important questions to be asked? Is there enough information? Steps two and three may need to be repeated several times before the final research topic is identified.