They'll have an idea of what the report means, where the data comes from, and what the difficulties are in getting the data. Smith feels that, in the final analysis, his students will be much more likely to get jobs in their fields if they participate in field studies, learning by using the techniques used by employers. That means the labs are really tough. Typically you think of a lab as two hours, and a little write-up afterwards. The students gather data for two hours, put it in the computer, and they have access to it on our internet system.
Students pull the data off the server, and have to analyze it.
That's the way you do things as scientists, you collaborate, and increase your sampling. And I am. There are only a few right ways in ecology to present these things. Every other way is the wrong way, or unacceptable. I will help the students reach my level of expectation, but I'm not bringing the bar down.