Planning And Conducting Applied Agricultural Research

Chris O Andrew, Peter E Hildebrand

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781000303919
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Environmental Science
• Index: Biological Sciences

This study focuses on applied research as a service to a client with a problem that research can help solve. Because applied research has a definite purpose, there is usually a time constraint, a deadline by which the work must be completed, as well as a limit on the resources the client has available or is willing to use. Consequently, the researc

Chapter I
Introduction

About midmorning, the Minister of Agriculture is just completing a phone conversation as the door to his office opens to admit one of the young men in the research group from the Planning Department of the Ministry. At about the same time the Vice Minister and the head of planning enter and the four men seat themselves around a small conference table. The Minister opens the meeting, directing his comments to his Vice Minister: "I'm told that we have a final report on that project on importing fertilizer, that's great. It's just in time. Now we ought to be able to convince the import-export people that they can't reduce our request for fertilizer and still expect us to meet our new trade commitments."

Turning to the young researcher, the Minister says encouragingly, "OK, young man, they tell me you've made an excellent study. Now tell us exactly how much fertilizer is it going to take over the next five years to meet our production targets?"

"Sir? replies the researcher, apparently a little confused.

"Come, come, now, don't be nervous. Just tell us about the research you've been doing. What are the results?" The Minister realizes the researcher may be a bit timid.

"Oh, yes sir," smiles the researcher, "thank you."

"Well, as soon as we got your request for information on the importance of fertilizer, we checked to see what data we had on Japan and some other countries where there have been recent increases in production. We thought this ought to give us some good ideas about the relationship between fertilizer use and crop production. Here, sir, we have a series of graphs showing the correlation between these two variables for a number of countries."

"Yes," replies the Minister, "it's quite evident that fertilizer is important in increasing crop output. Now, how much are we going to need?"

The researcher continues, "According to the latest census, which unfortunately is several years old as you know, only about 40 percent of our farmers are using any fertilizer. This is considerably below the rate in the other countries I mentioned. And in those countries income per farm family has been increasing rapidly, again demonstrating the importance of fertilizer." The Minister nearly interrupts but lets the researcher continue. "Now if we want to double the number of farmers using fertilizer, we might be able to assume that we need twice as much fertilizer as now."

"Yes, I suppose" replies the Minister, "but what about the land area involved and what about the requirements for the different crops?"

The researcher, thumbing back through his report answers, "We don't have any information on area of each crop that is fertilized but cotton and sugarcane consume about 80 percent of the fertilizer used and. . ."

He is interrupted by the Minister who says, "But don't you have any estimates of the quantities required to get the production we need over the next five years? Our problem is that they want to cut back on fertilizer imports to help domestic fertilizer production just at the time we have to try to increase crop production in a big hurry. We need to know how that could affect our program and how much importation we need to ask for." Turning to the head of the planning group he says, "I thought we discussed this pretty thoroughly that day it came up. What happened?"

"Well, that's right, and I knew we were going to have a hard time convincing them how important fertilizer was in our program and I know we talked about that in my office, didn't we?" the head of planning asks the young researcher.

"Yes, sir," replies the young man, "we knew we had to get you some good information on the importance of fertilizer and that's why I have this information on Japan and those other countries."

"Well," replies the Minister, "that's not going to be much help in solving our problem. We have the meeting with them tomorrow. But maybe we could hold off a decision for a couple of days if you think you can get me the information we need by that time. Why don't you call someone at the experiment station? Maybe they can help you. But you better get going. Don't forget how important fertilizer is to us."

There are several important points in this dialogue, which though fictional, represents a real-life situation encountered much too frequently. The most important point is that after waiting right up to the deadline, the Minister, who is the client, did not obtain the information he needed for a meeting of great importance. As a result, the research costs incurred by the Planning Department for this project yielded little of value. The most serious consequence, of course, is the cost associated with not having the relevant information for the meeting. Although some of the reasons for the unfortunate situation are evident in the dialogue, others are more subtle. Regardless of the reasons, we hope that with this book we can contribute to the more effective use of research resources and help prevent the kind of unhappy discussion as that between the Minister and the researcher.

Applied Research

Research is the orderly procedure by which man increases his knowledge and is contrasted to accidental discovery because it follows a series of steps designed precisely for the purpose of developing information.¹ Knowledge gained by research may be used by man to produce a greater abundance of food and fiber, to lighten the burdens of his labor, or in any number of ways to generally improve his well being. Or new knowledge may simply be added to man's store of concepts about the universe to await application at some future point in time. Research undertaken specifically for the purpose of obtaining information to help resolve a particular problem is applied research. For a research undertaking to be applied research it is not necessary that the results (the new knowledge) in fact resolve or help resolve the problem which initiated the project (though hopefully they will), but it is necessary that the research have a specific problem orientation. It is this kind of research — that oriented toward resolution of specific problems — toward which this book is directed.

The development of Mexican or dwarf wheat was the result of an applied research process oriented toward the resolution of a specific problem [72]. A fertilizer experiment oriented toward making recommendations to farmers is another example, as is the work of a government planner trying to estimate the likely supply response to fertilizer for a particular commodity under a proposed new program, or the total fertilizer requirements necessary to reach specified production goals, as in our dialogue. Determining acceptability of a newly developed feed concentrate for fattening hogs in tropical areas or the development of a hand seeder for steep terrain in primitive areas also would be classified as applied research. In general, the research referred to in this book is oriented toward providing useful information to decision makers such as farmers and public administrators.

Applied research, such as that just described, is carried out in all parts of the world — it is a much more widespread activity than basic research which is a necessity but one that only the wealthiest countries can afford. Most applied research is conducted under moderate to severe resource limitations which necessitate efficiency in the research process. An effective applied research methodology is directed toward the efficient use of available research resources to maximize the probability of achieving meaningful results to help resolve problems. Disappointment in the results of applied research — a "So what?" response — in most instances can be traced directly to the use of an inadequate and/or ineffective applied research methodology which failed to correctly identify the problem.

The Book

Perhaps the most critical deficiency in methodology is the failure to adequately identify the specific problem toward which the research is to be oriented (as happened to the researcher in the Ministry). This may result when the researcher uncritically accepts the problem as stated by the client or by his spokesman (the "importance of fertilizer" was not the Minister's problem). Another serious deficiency may occur even after properly identifying the problem. This is the failure to formulate hypotheses and objectives correctly oriented toward the resolution of the problem and to use appropriate analytical techniques (what hypotheses did the Ministry researcher use?). The most critical concepts are the interrelationships among problem identification, hypotheses, objectives, analytical techniques, and resource restraints.

The role of theory, though not developed within the main text, is also critical to applied research. Without discounting the value of practice and experience, the greater the command of theory possessed by the researcher, the broader will be his capabilities and the more efficient he will be in planning and conducting the applied research project. This is true because theory envelopes and supports the entire research process.² Without a good command of stress theory an engineer cannot properly design nor efficiently build a safe bridge. A plant breeder must understand the theory of genetics before he can hope to efficiently develop a strain resistant to a certain disease. An agricultural economist cannot determine an optimum farm organization without knowledge of production economics theory.

The researcher's foundation in theory provides the orientation for defining a problem that is researchable within the discipline or disciplines involved in the research and with the resources available. Theory also provides the basis for the formulation of hypotheses and in the selection of the analytical techniques to be used. And it should be obvious that the interpretation of the results depends heavily on the theoretical orientation of the researcher.

Although theory permeates the entire research process, in applied research, frequently conducted under sub-optimum conditions, the researcher's practical experience is equally important. Institutional and budgetary restraints, less than ideal field conditions, poorly trained personnel, inadequate background information and other similar factors have a very significant effect on the research process and therefore must be recognized and dealt with accordingly. Practical experience is invaluable in helping the researcher overcome the obstacles which are so often encountered in applied research. In all phases of the material to be presented, the difficulties associated with sub-optimum research conditions under which the individual researcher is apt to be working are considered.

In this book, we have divided the topics into separate chapters and the chapters into two parts derived from the book title; a convention to which we adhere, though not without some reservation. Neither section nor the material in any chapter is independent.

Planning activities are discussed in Part I of the book. In planning the research project, one must always take cognizance of the means available for conducting the research, and during the research process it may be necessary to modify portions of the original plan. Each of the activities is affected by the others and by the research resource restraints under which the researcher is toiling. The kinds and sources of data which will be used and the methods of analysis will be dictated by the hypotheses and objectives, but they, in turn, must be finalized only after having taken into account the effect of resource conditions on availability of data and/or analytical competence.

In Part II, Conducting Applied Research, we discuss experimental and non-experimental data collection, verification and interpretation of data, and presentation of the results to the client.

Because of the deliberate and intense emphasis placed upon problem identification, the book does not discuss in detail each basic element of a research project. One should be cognizant, however, of the interrelated components of a research project and employ them when planning and conducting applied research. These essential elements are: 1) a problem statement accompanied by sufficient information to justify the need for research; 2) hypotheses; 3) objectives; 4) budget; 5) the appropriate theoretical and analytical approach and procedures; 6) data requirements including sources and procedures for obtaining data; 7) a detailed work plan showing jobs to be done and time sequences; and 8) the reports to be issued for each audience.

¹For thoughts concerning the meaning of research and the scientific method see [9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 34, 39, 52, 71, 73, 74, 81, 83].

²For literature concerning the role of theory in research see [20, 35, 40, 53, 62, 63, 70].

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• PREFACE
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
• PART ONE: PLANNING APPLIED RESEARCH
• PART TWO: CONDUCTING APPLIED RESEARCH
• REFERENCES
• APPENDIX
• INDEX