Scratch My Back and I'll Scratch Yours

Throughout the summer we have been participating and learning about each others project. For the anthropology, I not only learned how difficult it was to transcribe, but I also gained insight on implementing and regulating policy through transcribing. Transcribing allowed me to get a better sense from agency officials and their opinions by examining their tone of voice and length of statements. For economics, I was able to go out into the community gain qualitative data while handing out surveys. I distributed surveys on two occasions,  to local businesses and to community members. Qualitative data is important because it can give insight on why a respondent choose an answer, which can otherwise not interpreted without contact. I enjoyed handing out surveys because it gave me a better understanding on how passionate Menomonie is about cleaning up the lake. Last but not least, I also went out with biology team. It was one of my favorite experiences. I was nice going out on the boat to collect water samples and to get a break from being in the office. I learned how to measure the turbidity and amount of chlorophyll of water. Also, thanks to Steve I learned how to drive a boat! It was such a great experience. Each one of these projects are important to improving not only the water quality, but the quality of life surrounding the community. Working on other projects has given me the opportunity to see how this water quality problem cannot only be solved through one type of research, but through the collaboration of different studies and research.