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I would be extremely appreciative of anyone willing to do a really quick survey for me. I'm doing a high school science project, and one of the things I need to do is to get an interview with a professional in the field. Because of cow's tendency to align themselves in a North-South orientation, I've decided to do my project on seeing if I can use a magnetic field to manipulate worms into facing certain ways. The question I'm asking is "Will earthworms align themselves in a North-South direction when a strong electromagnetic field is present?" (that could probably use some rewording, but for all intents and purposes, that's what it is.)
So, if you're a really nice person who can spare a few minutes, and also has a degree in either 1) anything concerning magnetism 2) anything concerning invertebrates 3) anything concerning the effects of magnets on invertebrates then please help me out. I need to stress that I need someone with a pretty high degree in a similar topic to this.
Some questions I will probably ask you would be along the lines of basic concepts of the matter your degree deals with and probably some more specific questions that deal directly with the project. I will also have to know your name, and what your degree was in. If you don't want to give me your name, just make one up. I won't know the difference, and neither will my science teacher.
This really shouldn't take you to long to fill out. Please send me an email as soon as you can, because I need to be able to write a short paper on the information you give to me by Dec 3rd.
If you can help me, please send the email to: tsinya@live.com. Include your name, degree (it would also be nice if you would put down your current job and college you went to.) I may get a few emails on this, and so if I don't respond to you, that would be because I already found someone else.
posted
Tsinya, just a thought, but you should probably respond to everyone who responds to you, just to be courteous and to let them know that one, you got their letter, and two, you are thankful that they took the time to respond.
Posts: 315 | Registered: Dec 2005
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posted
BTW, the science project sounds pretty interesting, but unfortunately I have no expertise in any of these fields. Good luck!
Posts: 315 | Registered: Dec 2005
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May I suggest that you log onto the websites of some local (or even not local) Universities, and look up actual professionals in the real world, and ask them questions?
Now, I realize posting here is easier for you, but I feel (though I may be alone in this) that it is not ideal. I'm sure your teacher is hoping for you to take some initiative by contacting some professionals in the field, and no doubt part of the reason for this aspect of your assignment is to practice your networking skills, by making a business-like call, or sending a business-like email. Now, posting here and agreeing to site an anonymous and possibly fraudulent source in your paper is not, imo, strictly ethical. Inasmuch as you can claim to be fulfilling the assignment by posting here, I think you know that this is not the route your teacher would hope for, or encourage. I'm disturbed by your willingness to deceive your teacher, and I would encourage you to delete the thread.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Sala- yes you're probably right. thanks for pointing that out
Orincoro- This isn't the only method I'm using for finding someone to interview. I will most definitely also be looking around Universities, but according to my science teacher, interviews over the internet are acceptable. I recognize that it's possible that someone might try and deceive me, but honestly, this probably isn't the most amusing thing any pranksters out there might come up with. I don't really see why someone would find it entertaining to try and make me think that they know anything about worms. Especially since I've been researching this long enough to spot an idiot when I see one, and I won't use an interview unless I feel the information is verifiable and credible. As far as fooling my teacher, the only thing that I don't care about is the name. Some people aren't willing to give that info out, and I would rather get good information from a false name then to have no responses. So basically, all I'm trying to say is that this isn't a scam to get personal information out of anyone. All I want is some facts. As long as they have a degree in this subject and know what their talking about, then they can call themselves anything they want.
Posts: 9 | Registered: Aug 2008
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Fine, but my point was that, given that this is a school assignment meant to teach you something, I am of the opinion that this is not going to teach you what the assignment most likely intends. This would not be an acceptable research method in any other context, and I'm inclined to think your situation is not an exception. Finding professionals by networking online is one thing, granted, but submitting research that you have obtained anonymously from unverified sources is not of a piece with that. I understand you have the capacity to use your judgment in deciding what you use, but again, and more importantly since you are missing this point, that is not an acceptable level of prudence in doing research of the kind you are describing.
Edit: I would suggest actually, that you look at the wikipedia guidelines that forbid "original research." Though you aren't using wikipedia in this instance, that community's interest in avoiding the mentality you seem to have is aimed at keeping their information reliable, and accurate. If people are to do credible research, their sources must be sited and authentic all the way down the line, so that the source of each piece of information can be traced, and so that each of these subsequent sources may also be followed and researched independently. This applies to school assignments in the same way, and for the same reasons.
It would be altogether different if you wished to have an anonymous candid interview as *part of your own* original research, because then the information you got from that interview would be of a known quality and reliability (or rather, the reliability and quality of that information would have a known limit). But if you wish to obtain facts and the products of research from an anonymous source, I'm sorry, the quality of that information is not the same as an authentic source, and cannot be used in the same way. If you attempt to use that information in the same way, and attach to it the same level of credibility as a verified source, then you are not doing good research.
So what comes of all of this? Nothing much in this particular case- you can and probably will get away with less than stellar methods in a high school class. But having been there, and having fudged and cajoled my own way through secondary education to some extent, I can't recommend it.
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It seems fine enough to look for someone to interview on here, but I think I'd want some proof about the validity of what is said: a citation to a journal article, or showing that the person does truly have a degree in worm magnetism from credible-ville University.
I too know nothing about the combination of worms and magnetism
Posts: 655 | Registered: May 2005
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I see where this project is going. What words are you going to have them spell?
Suggestions: So long and thanks for all the dirt. Two legs bad, no legs good. We are legion, for we are many. Some Worms.
Posts: 1287 | Registered: Apr 2006
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posted
How about: "Oceania is at war with East Asia... Oceana has always been at war with East Asia."
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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So the North/South facing cows are big bovine magnets? I'd have thought they just liked the way the sun felt shining on their flanks.
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
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And the topic of bovine magnets does bring new meanig to the phrase "where the sun don't shine".
Posts: 1099 | Registered: Apr 2005
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