Marie Therese Hickland
Testing the Tasting Database
Abstract
The study aimed to test the functionality of the database which has been configured to store and make accessible, herb information captured during class tasting within the Scottish School of Herbal Medicine. A positive outcome was deemed to be evidence that the data gathered during the tasting provided an accurate picture of the test herb Iris versicolor.
The methodology began with a literature search on Iris versicolor to facilitate the creation of a herb profile consisting of a number of keywords. A literature search was also conducted on the study related areas of databases and learning/teaching tools. The core of the study was a pragmatic test of the database by interrogation using keywords generated from the herb profile against appropriate search fields. As the matches were minimal, it was extended across all data fields and manually searched for matches. Finally, a thematic compare and contrast exercise based on the literature search and the four test data sets was conducted manually.
The initial findings were insubstantial using keywords. A significant number of entries were in inappropriate data fields thus hampering relational searching. The manual comparison of themes was very positive when the data was interpreted against the literature search. Thus although a positive outcome was not possible by interrogating the database in the conventional manner, it was possible using the data stored by the database in a different manner.
The findings were discussed and recommendations made to optimise the conduct of herb tasting and improve the data recording and entry. Suggestions are made as to how the collected data might further inform students understanding of each herb in the absence of known research and how the data might contribute to a wider experiential research study on individual herbs.
