Citizen
Science and Journey North
Thinking Carefully About Methods
How
might observers affect the results of a Journey North study? Ms. Bailey's
class in Vero Beach, Florida thought of 43 examples!
- The observer
sees a monarch but doesn't report it.
- The observer
doesn't go outside.
- The observer
might not be looking.
- The observer
might go somewhere where there are no monarchs.
- The observer
might travel to somewhere that there are lots of monarchs.
- The observer
may go outside regularly to look for monarchs.
- The observer
looks carefully on milkweed for monarch butterfly eggs.
- The observer
never looks for monarch eggs.
- The observer
might not live near where milkweed grows.
- The observer
might not live in a migration area.
- The observer
might not live where many monarch butterflies live.
- The observer
might just watch TV all day so he doesn't see any monarchs.
- The observer
might move to a new place.
- The observer
might migrate (they might come south for the winter).
- The observer
might travel away from where there are monarchs.
- The observer
sees monarch eggs but doesn't report it.
- The observer
reports the same butterfly several times.
- The observer
gets sick and can't look for monarchs.
- The observer
might not wake up in time to see the monarchs.
- The observer
might mistake a viceroy or other mimic for a monarch.
- The observer
might see a monarch while he is at work and is not allowed to report
it.
- The observer
might be old and he dies overnight.
- The observer's
computer crashes and he can't report the sighting.
- If the
observer gets chicken pox he won't get a chance to look for monarchs.
- The observer
might be blind.
- The observer
may miss a sighting because he has a sick pet and has to take it to
the vet.
- The observer
may accidentally kill the monarch by stepping on it and he doesn't report
it.
- If the
observer is on an airplane to go to another state to see the monarchs
and it crashes, he might never get to see them.
- The observer
sees a caterpillar but doesn't report it.
- There
might be a lot of rainy days so the observer doesn't go look for butterflies.
- The observer
doesn't want to go out and look on the weekend because it's one of his
days off.
- The observer
might see a butterfly, but he doesn't have a computer so he doesn't
report it.
- If the
observer is at work they can't go out to see the monarch butterflies.
- The observer
might get poisoned and have to go to the hospital so he doesn't see
the monarch butterflies.
- The observer
only looks for butterflies on Mondays.
- The observer
could have had a heart attack and passed out.
- The observer
might have crashed in a car and Journey North wouldn't know why he wasn't
reporting anything.
- The observer
doesn't see the monarchs because they are hiding.
- The observer
might forget to look for monarchs.
- If the
observer is reading he might not see a monarch fly by and report it.
- The observer
might have to go somewhere.
- The observer
has to work Monday through Friday.
- The observer
is away on a cruise.
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