Is this considered research?

[AestheticGod]

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*Mods feel free to move this if i'm posting it in the wrong area*

Is this even considered research or will ever come close to getting published? And I'm sure stuff like this has been done already multiple times in America, but I haven't seen any that was done for Bangladesh/India. If it HAS been done before, will doing this be pretty much pointless?

Basic Idea:
-Plan on taking water samples from villages, major cities, and high class areas.
-Will compare the sample of water from its areas to compare the amount of toxic chemicals and how healthy it is.

Hypothesis:
-I believe that the water supply from the higher class areas will have cleaner water than the rest. And that the village water will have chemicals that promote xxxxxxxx diseases (not going to list them on this thread since there's a lot i'm sure).

Methods:
-Basic stuff involving microscopes, pH levels, ect. (will be doing all the testing in America, unless I find the supplies in that country).

 

[Josh7]

*Mods feel free to move this if i'm posting it in the wrong area*

Is this even considered research or will ever come close to getting published? And I'm sure stuff like this has been done already multiple times in America, but I haven't seen any that was done for Bangladesh/India. If it HAS been done before, will doing this be pretty much pointless?

Basic Idea:
-Plan on taking water samples from villages, major cities, and high class areas.
-Will compare the sample of water from its areas to compare the amount of toxic chemicals and how healthy it is.

Hypothesis:
-I believe that the water supply from the higher class areas will have cleaner water than the rest. And that the village water will have chemicals that promote xxxxxxxx diseases (not going to list them on this thread since there's a lot i'm sure).

Methods:
-Basic stuff involving microscopes, pH levels, ect. (will be doing all the testing in America, unless I find the supplies in that country).

Sounds like "research" to me but there's no way it's specific enough to be published in a journal

 

[Musty Goose]

Are you doing this on your own?

 

[plumhill]

*Mods feel free to move this if i'm posting it in the wrong area*

Is this even considered research or will ever come close to getting published? And I'm sure stuff like this has been done already multiple times in America, but I haven't seen any that was done for Bangladesh/India. If it HAS been done before, will doing this be pretty much pointless?

Basic Idea:
-Plan on taking water samples from villages, major cities, and high class areas.
-Will compare the sample of water from its areas to compare the amount of toxic chemicals and how healthy it is.

Hypothesis:
-I believe that the water supply from the higher class areas will have cleaner water than the rest. And that the village water will have chemicals that promote xxxxxxxx diseases (not going to list them on this thread since there's a lot i'm sure).

Methods:
-Basic stuff involving microscopes, pH levels, ect. (will be doing all the testing in America, unless I find the supplies in that country).

If you're doing this on your own, then its more science fair project-esque rather than true "academic/scholarly" research, which is usually done under a PI and with some level of organization. How much background information have you researched? Because I'm pretty sure people have looked at this issue before, both domestically and abroad.

 

[lobo.solo]

If you're doing this on your own, then its more science fair project-esque rather than true "academic/scholarly" research, which is usually done under a PI and with some level of organization. How much background information have you researched? Because I'm pretty sure people have looked at this issue before, both domestically and abroad.

This^. Also I thought you made a thread about this before

 

[AestheticGod]

This^. Also I thought you made a thread about this before

No, I know what you're talking about though. The other thread was about the EC's i planned on doing.

 

[AestheticGod]

Are you doing this on your own?

If you're doing this on your own, then its more science fair project-esque rather than true "academic/scholarly" research, which is usually done under a PI and with some level of organization. How much background information have you researched? Because I'm pretty sure people have looked at this issue before, both domestically and abroad.

Yes, i'm planning on doing this on my own. I would like to get someone supervision it all, but not really sure if anyone in the science departments are willing to do this if i bring the products back from the country. It also seems like a too simple of a 'research' that can be accomplished in 3-4 days.

 

[music2doc]

*Mods feel free to move this if i'm posting it in the wrong area*

Is this even considered research or will ever come close to getting published? And I'm sure stuff like this has been done already multiple times in America, but I haven't seen any that was done for Bangladesh/India. If it HAS been done before, will doing this be pretty much pointless?

Basic Idea:
-Plan on taking water samples from villages, major cities, and high class areas.
-Will compare the sample of water from its areas to compare the amount of toxic chemicals and how healthy it is.

Hypothesis:
-I believe that the water supply from the higher class areas will have cleaner water than the rest. And that the village water will have chemicals that promote xxxxxxxx diseases (not going to list them on this thread since there's a lot i'm sure).

Methods:
-Basic stuff involving microscopes, pH levels, ect. (will be doing all the testing in America, unless I find the supplies in that country).

From what I am seeing, I'm not convinced a thorough review of the literature has occurred. Review that first, then take it to a PI whose lab you've worked in. Present him with your proposal. Once you have an established PI supervising your project, work with him to refine the study design and then implement it. This will probably be at least a 1-2 year project just to get your initial dataset -- possibly following a pilot run here in the States and then a few trips abroad to collect your specimens. You're probably looking at 6-12 mos for analysis and a good 6-12 mos after that to present/publish.

 

[AestheticGod]

From what I am seeing, I'm not convinced a thorough review of the literature has occurred. Review that first, then take it to a PI whose lab you've worked in. Present him with your proposal. Once you have an established PI supervising your project, work with him to refine the study design and then implement it. This will probably be at least a 1-2 year project just to get your initial dataset -- possibly following a pilot run here in the States and then a few trips abroad to collect your specimens. You're probably looking at 6-12 mos for analysis and a good 6-12 mos after that to present/publish.

Do you have any tips on where I can start the reviewing of literature? Or should I just go ahead and start googling for information? As far as the trips abroad for specimens, that won't be needed since I have family/friends who will be more than happy to mail me anything I need.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Do you have any tips on where I can start the reviewing of literature? Or should I just go ahead and start googling for information? As far as the trips abroad for specimens, that won't be needed since I have family/friends who will be more than happy to mail me anything I need.

PubMed

 

[music2doc]

Do you have any tips on where I can start the reviewing of literature? Or should I just go ahead and start googling for information? As far as the trips abroad for specimens, that won't be needed since I have family/friends who will be more than happy to mail me anything I need.

PubMed, MedLine, other academic search resources you have access to. As for having people mail you specimens, that would be something you would have to put in your proposal and probably should be mentioned in the Methods and/or Discussion sections. I will say it definitely weakens your project since you have no way of monitoring the collection method nor ensuring that the specimen is actually from the location you are told it is from. I doubt an editor would consider publishing something with big questions about where the data actually came from. (And to leave out those details would be dishonest.)

 

[AestheticGod]

PubMed

PubMed, MedLine, other academic search resources you have access to. As for having people mail you specimens, that would be something you would have to put in your proposal and probably should be mentioned in the Methods and/or Discussion sections. I will say it definitely weakens your project since you have no way of monitoring the collection method nor ensuring that the specimen is actually from the location you are told it is from. I doubt an editor would consider publishing something with big questions about where the data actually came from. (And to leave out those details would be dishonest.)

Thanks a lot, looking into this now.

 

[Ismet]

This seems very "science fair"-y. Doing it in a foreign country doesn't really change the premise that much. If you get a PI to sponsor/mentor the project and maybe turn it into something public health related, then you might have something there.

 

[Josh7]

This seems very "science fair"-y. Doing it in a foreign country doesn't really change the premise that much. If you get a PI to sponsor/mentor the project and maybe turn it into something public health related, then you might have something there.

Agreed, why not join one of the clubs on campus that help improve the drinking water in these sorts of countries? It's already common knowledge that the water isn't of the best quality.

I'll be working on a drinking water improvement project with EWB starting next semester.

 

[H Y F R]

Are you kidding? This is done in every quantitative chemistry class. Ever. For ever.

Do real research bro. Stop scheming.

 

[ACal]

You definitely need someone (like a PI) to supervise and guide your research, also to possibly write you a recommendation letter. You also want a project that takes significant time and effort, at least 3 months full time or a year part time.
The project you described above seem too simple and something done during high school for a science fair project.