Endless, endless questions: 'we too often focus on the 'How' questions in research, without understanding the underlying 'Why' issues.'

摘要

I work in a milieu of questions, mostly ones we ask of and about the bees. Queries bounce across the laboratory lunch table, of the "What if, Suppose we tried to, How about" variety, drawn from observations my students have made about bee behavior, suggestions by beekeepers for a disease treatment, or something we read in a recent journal article. The questions then get more rigorous as we design experiments, analyze data, interpret results, and eventually write an article with some answers, but invariably conclude with "More research is needed .... "The questions don't end, they just move on to the next stage.