Course Description
Research methods applied to sustainable forest management. Framing a testable research question. Models and hypotheses. Bayesian and Frequentist approaches to research. Sustainability and its influence on decision-making in forest management, with example from forest certification, climate change, biodiversity conservation, and equity. Interpret and disseminate methods and results.
PREREQS: Intro to statistics
Learning Objectives
Students completing this course will be able to understand, explain and apply concepts, assumptions, and reasoning that define a forest related research investigation.
The course has four objectives:
- Understand and apply concepts, assumptions, and reasoning that frame research.
- Identify the main ideas defining a sustainable forest management research
- Effectively convey technical and non-technical information on various media.
- Perform scholarly and professional activities in an ethical manner.
- Diversity and equity in forest research
Course Content
Week | Topic | Assignment |
|---|---|---|
1 | Foundation of science |
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2 | Paradigms and falsability | Falsability |
3 | Models of reality: stochastic vs deterministic | Reality models |
4 | Approaches to stochastic analysis: frequentist vs. Bayesian | Data analysis |
5 | Hypotheses and Assumptions | Research question |
6 | Sustainability and Sustainable Forest Management |
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7 | Ethics in Sustainable Forest Management | CITI |
8 | Diversity and Equity in Sustainable Forest Management |
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9 | Current topics in SFM: forest certification and climate change | Essay on elected topic |
10 | Project presentations |
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