Research Methodologies in Forest Sciences
Blas MOLA-YUDEGO
Course description
Developing studies in forest sciences requires an understanding on statistical methods and to be familiar with the most common methodological approaches. Research Methods in Forest Sciences aims to review several methodological tools, statistical and GIS based, related to forest studies. The course was originally conceived for students of the MSc of European Forestry in 2005, to prepare them for the final thesis. Shortly after, it was open to other students of the School of Forest Sciences at the University of Eastern Finland. The course was originally designed by Blas Mola and Celeste Lacuna, under the leadership of Paavo Pelkonen. Several instructors have been involved along years, among others: Janet Chaseling, José Ramon González-Olabarria, Alejandro Ruete, Sanna Härkönen and Olalla Díaz-Yáñez. The present form of the course dates back to 2015, with Blas Mola as main instructor and coordinator, and different co-lecturers: Timo Tokola, Sanna Härkönen, Marina Peris and Mari Selkimäki; the course includes background lectures, R and GIS exercises and a final exam.
Learning outcomes
The course consists of lectures and exercises and independent and collaborative work on learning tasks. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
- interpret statistical results
- become familiarized with typical research methods in forest science, eg. GIS tools
- to present statistical information in an academic way
- understand experiments, the reasons behind the set-ups, and the most common sampling techniques
- build simple statistical models, for the most common analysis performed in forest science
Essentials
Applied statistics, research methodology, biometric and ecosystem modeling concepts, R statistics, GIS and remote sensing techniques.
Course responsible
Blas Mola-Yudego, School of Forest Sciences, Borealis room 376, email address: blas.mola(at)uef.fi