Title: Testing hypotheses through data synthesis: preparing for success Presenters: Jennifer Sunday, Christopher Lortie, Mary O’Connor, Joey Bernhardt When: Thursday July 2, 9:00-12:00pm Pacific Daylight Time Description: Data synthesis is a powerful approach to hypothesis-testing using previously-collected data, that can facilitate decision-making for managers and society and provide a clear synopsis of “where we are” on a general or specific question in our field of study. This workshop is designed to help graduate-level students get started in data synthesis in ecology and evolution, with a focus on drawing together existing results or sources of data from the existing published literature, in order to test hypotheses. This workshop will cover the benefits and basic approaches to meta-analysis and data synthesis, including a review of examples. We will discuss the importance of matching data to hypotheses, and the methods of literature review and data extraction that will set students up for success. We will not cover data analysis and statistics, but will focus instead on the first stages of database collation and avoiding common pitfalls. We will encourage participants to workshop their data synthesis ideas in break-out groups to take place throughout the day.