6 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.36 



test. This in turn may be similarly tested and decided, when others 

 may arise, and so on; but all such tests remain in the category of 

 experiments. During the course of the experiments, however, the 

 experimenter may come to the conclusion that there is some hidden 

 reason at the bottom of all his tests which may explain why he has 

 been getting certain results — something that will clear up the whole 

 situation." 



Applying this to pollination studies. Dr. Howard traced the imag- 

 inary progress of successive tests and experiments showing that 

 certain varieties are self-sterile and that others are good pollinizers 

 for these varieties, and that certain varieties are intersterile while a 

 certain few are safe pollinators for many — all facts of practical value 

 but giving no clew to why a certain variety is fertile or self-sterile. 

 This may lead the experimenter to theorize as to the possible reason 

 and the series of experiments to approach the stage of investigation. 

 " When a definite program has been mapped out which has for its 

 object the finding out of the cause or causes which underlie self- 

 fertility or self-sterility in general, or for the particular fruit in 

 question, with a logically arranged set of experiments for pursuing 

 the inquiry, the problem develops at once into a genuine piece of 

 research." 



This explanation characterizes the different grades of inquiry with 

 unusual clearness. It explains at once the quality and method of 

 the inquiry when it reaches the research stage, and it makes it clear 

 why an experimenter can not embark upon a piece of research until 

 he has a purpose which lies beyond the accumulation of facts and a 

 theory or hypothesis which guides him in elaborating a plan. It 

 also makes clear the importance of the project outline, and the reason- 

 ableness of the requirement. For clearly the title alone does not dis- 

 close the nature of the effort; it only tells what the contemplated 

 work is about and what field it lies in. A statement of the object 

 and the plan of procedure is the only basis for a fair and intelligent 

 judgment of the undertaking, for it enables a determination of 

 whether the effort is to consist in a series of tests, the gathering of 

 unrelated facts, the making of observations on phenomena, or 

 whether it contemplates a study of phenomena in their relations to 

 one another. Hence the project outline is an administrative neces- 

 sity. It furnishes evidence of deliberation and forethought. It is not 

 an attempt to anticipate results but a deliberate effort to devise a 

 promising means of getting them for a specific purpose. And it is 

 not fixed or stereotyped ; the project soon becomes sterile unless the 

 plan grows with the progress of the study. 



As Dr. Howard well stated : " Experiments are nece-ssary steps in 

 carrying on research work, but it is also clear that research is much 



