GUIDELINES FOR TUTORIALS

 

You should read the tutorial papers and instructions before coming to the tutorial, and arrive prepared to discuss the papers or engage in the tutorial activity. The readings are given below, followed by the instructions for each tutorial.

 

TUTORIAL READINGS

 

ORIGINAL STUDIES

Tutorial 1 (25, 27 January):  Bressler, E.R. & Balshine, S. 2006. The influence of humor on desirability. Evol. Human Beh. 27: 29-39.

Tutorial 2 (8, 17 February):  Hauser, M.D. 1992. Costs of deception: Cheaters are punished in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 89: 12137-12139.

REVIEW ARTICLES

(Tutorial 3 cancelled because of February storms)

Tutorial 4 (1, 3 March):  Amundsen, T. 2000. Why are female birds ornamented? TREE 15: 149-155.

METHODS IN BEHAVIOURAL ECOLOGY (readings for these two tutorials are in one pdf here)

Tutorial 5 (22, 24 March):  Quantifying behaviour: who, what, and when to watch.

 

Tutorial 6 (5, 7 April):  Asking questions in behavioural ecology: from hypotheses to predictions to results. 

 

TUTORIAL INSTRUCTIONS

 

Tutorials 1 and 2 (Original Studies)

Tutorials 1 and 2 will involve critical evaluations of papers from original studies. Please get the papers from the links above and read them before your tutorial. When reading these papers you should consider the following points (plus anything else you find interesting) and be ready to discuss them in the tutorial:

1. Did the author (s) provide adequate background information that allowed you to assess where the study fit in the broader context? Did you understand what they were trying to test and why? Were the goals of the study clearly stated?  

2. Were the hypotheses and predictions clearly stated? Did they consider alternative hypotheses?

3. Were all terms defined?

4. Were the methods clearly explained? Could you replicate the study based on what was written in this section?

5. Were the experiments well designed? If not, can you think of a better design? Were there proper controls?

6. Were the sample sizes and statistical tests appropriate and were the results robust (i.e. do you think they will stand up to further study)?

7. Did the conclusions follow from the results?

 

Tutorials 3 and 4 (Review Articles) 

Tutorials 3 and 4 will involve discussions of articles that review an area in behavioural ecology. You will be writing a review-style essay, so you may wish to pay special attention to the discussions in these two tutorials. The papers are available from the links above. When reading these papers before the tutorial you should consider the following points (plus anything else you find interesting) and be ready to discuss them in the tutorial: 

1. Did the author (s) clearly state the ideas they were reviewing?

2. Did they provide enough background for the reader to assess the ideas under review? What was missing?

3. What evidence did they use to support or refute their arguments? Was the evidence convincing?

4. Did they provide alternative hypotheses? If not, can you think of alternative explanations?

5. Did their conclusions follow from the evidence they provided?

 

Tutorials 5 and 6 (Methods in Behavioural Ecology)

In the final two tutorials you will practice collecting data and testing hypotheses. In Tutorial 5 you will be introduced to some of the basic decisions made in behavioural studies -- what to watch, who to watch, and when to watch. In Tutorial 6 you will get some practice in the more general issues of how to form testable hypotheses and predictions. The instructions for these tutorials are available in the link above. Please be sure to read them before coming to tutorial.