AVALIAÇÃO DA FORMAÇÃO DE ECÓLOGOS MARINHOS NA GRADUAÇÃO: UM ESTUDO DE CASO NA UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DA BAHIA

Abstract

EVALUATION OF MARINE ECOLOGISTS FORMATION IN THE GRADUATION: A CASE STUDY IN THE FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF BAHIA. In many bachelor´s degree courses of Biological Sciences, the undergraduate students have to produce a monograph. This work can be compare to an article about a specific subject, so it can show the same deficiencies and qualities of a scientific article. Good monographs can actually result in scientific papers. The present study aimed to diagnose the type and quality of monographs done on Marine Ecology area in the Institute of Biology from University Federal of Bahia, Brazil, in the period 2002-2008 and to suggest ways of improvement. The evaluation included the theoretical fundaments, the quality of the hypothesis, the experimental design, the statistical analyses and the coherence of the conclusions. After analyzing 8 monographs, it was hypothesized that (1) the monographs quality would increase with time; (2) at least half of monographs would not have an explicit and testable hypothesis; (3) the statistical analyses made for at least 30% of the monographs would be inappropriate; (4) at least half of monographs in their Discussion would not approach the ideas presents at Introduction; (5) the Conclusion of at least 70% of monographs would be inappropriate; (6) at least 30% of the theoretical reference used in the Introduction and Discussion would have low quality. The results showed that the quality of monographs has not improved over the years. In addition, 7,3% of monographs presented an explicit testable hypothesis and that 21,4% of monographs used statistical tests inappropriately. It was also verified that 92,7% of the monographs did not discuss all the ideas presented at their Introduction and 31,7% of monographs did not show an appropriate Conclusion. Finally, it was observed that 85,4% of monographs used at least 30% of references with low or questionable quality (i.e. grey literature). It is proposed that an increased attention should be given by lectures and supervisors regarding the importance of formulating good hypothesis, of good experimental designs, appropriate use of statistical tools, considering all these points as an integrated process for doing good science. Keywords: Monographs; logical science; hypothesis testing; experimental design; statistical tools.

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