Sure. Preliminarily, give up any hope of getting wealthy from your research ideas. First, get some hard-nosed training in statistics and the "real" sciences, such as math, physics, or chemistry. Second, somehow, insulate yourself from outside and/or vested interests by walling yourself off (financially) in an independently funded or gov't. organization. Third, divest yourself of any financial links to industry. Fourth, sit down and REALLY THINK about the problem -(repeat as necessary through the experiments). Fifth, most important, make sure you never adopt an affection for any of your theories, by adopting the method of the Multiple Working Hypotheses, and paying special attention to the null hypothesis, which holds that there will be no change in the system because of your experimental treatments. Sixth, always, always have control groups randomly mixed in with your tests. Seventh, or first, if you are clever, talk to a real statistician before the tests start (hopefully before you spend money setting up a flawed experiment). Eighth, expect that your character and bias will be questioned. Any research which starts out to prove a pet hypothesis has already prostituted itself, and is only anecdotal. - John F. Edwards formerly with USDA-ARS Bee Lab, Tucson, Arizona (33 years) now semi-retired (4 years) in the lovely, wet Pacific NW. [log in to unmask] wrote: >Would any of you pros out there be able to give us a >guideline about how to set up experiments that could >be replicated? >We have in the UK and Ireland been trying to get some valid amateur research >under way. > > -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---