The days when there were no data collection tasks for Anthony and Mary were used by the duo to be as productive as possible, making them explore different places as the restrictions on their movements were lifted. Furthermore, it seems like the whimsy of Prof Josie was somehow tickled as she decided to make them have their title defense on Sunday, which is also the day when their new data collection assignment will be given to them.
While completely absurd and quite harsh scheduling, Anthony and Mary knew that this would be their daily lives when they became true associate field researchers that focuses on training Pokemons while also needing to respond to the calls of Interpol and several labs of the whole region, and even the whole world. Furthermore, it's not like they have not taken 3 days of rest, which has no restrictions on what they can do whatsoever.
If they wanted to, Anthony bet that he and Mary could sleep in his house in Fuchsia, though that would be another hassle, as they have daily attendance in the satellite lab that can't be submitted online, as that would defeat the whole purpose, so they didn't do it and just slept in the lab. Because of this, Anthony has an excuse to train Zubat and Miltank inside the training facility of the satellite lab regularly in the past 3 days (which he's thinking about asking if he can use even after the internship to train Zubat as it's quite convenient) while going around continuing rattling his brain on new titles, which him and Mary have 10 combined, Mary has 3 and Anthony has 7.
Mary was quite amazed that Anthony could create many titles, especially making a tangible output out of all of them, without knowing that the only reason this is possible is that Anthony is already an adult in mind, so he has seen many things and thus is somehow more creative than a kid. The titles of Anthony are all bout trainer waste in forests, with outputs focusing on amending the current regulation on catching them since Pokémon rangers are not allowed to sue trainers who have thrown their disposable stuff into the forest for some reason.
This is like a teacher not being allowed to fail a student, which is complete bullshit. Variations include the disposable nature of Poké Balls when they failed to catch a Pokémon and its effect on the forests, and also about landfill/trash-based poison type Pokemons recently appearing in forests, which is unnatural (though very low in numbers). For Mary, it's all about city pollution in Fuchsia and Lavender, with one 'survey type' about noise pollution in city centers, one about biodiversity index, and its relation to pollution index of different pollution types.
_Eh, it's not so bad, though I would've narrowed down the pollution types' scope in the biodiversity index one. Well, let's just talk about that with Ma'am Josie since we're already here and all._
Anthony sighed after he successfully combed his hair, which had grown long since he hadn't been able to cut it for too long. Though he can see some potential in making it longer, it seems like it would suit him. Going back, Anthony and Mary are now back at the green development center of Kanto, ready to receive their new data collection assignment while also defending their titles.
Normally, researchers are only allowed to defend or submit (specifically for associate field researchers who send a pitch instead of defending) 3 titles to be reviewed by Josie. However, because Anthony and Mary are interns, Prof. Josie wanted to educate them on how to make research titles scalable. They also gathered lots of information about how Prof. Josie performed during defenses from the scientists in the lab. Anthony also learned that Melissa's proposal defense, their instructor on the Pokemon Lab biome in January, has Prof. Josie as one of its panel members.
Anthony and Mary went and tried to contact Melissa; unfortunately, she had her autoreply voicemail saying 'Melissa is currently busy challenging the Hoenn Battle Frontier'. So, they decided not to disturb her, after all Melissa seems to be someone who is both good at doing research and being a trainer, as seen in the strength of her Pidgeot, so she may be targeting a deep run in the Battle Frontier.
_Apparently, she's someone who asks a lot, but all of which are necessary..._
Anthony and Mary walked to the conference room of the lab while thinking of such. Obviously, Anthony is still with his ever-neutral face, while Mary is very nervous; however, she's not vibrating anymore, which is nice. When they entered, Prof Josie was already inside and immediately gestured for them to sit down and start explaining to her the titles they had sent to her, which she had a printed copy of.
And so they did, the two decided to split the titles, so they explained 5 each, something that's not too pressuring than they first thought. First off, Prof. Josie didn't say anything during the explanation of the individual titles and just let Anthony and Mary do their stuff; she even ignored the stammering of the two, which is something good for their hearts, especially Mary. After that, Prof. Josie pulled out her printed copy, flipped it, and explained one by one the strengths and weaknesses of all the titles.
Some are too broad and at the same time not fully aligned with the 'development' of the green development lab, while others are already researched, and some are titles with the same premise as the titles being peer reviewed by Josie and are on the verge of being approved, so they would be compromising themselves if they pursued them. In the end, Prof. Josie singled out a title made by Mary and pointed it out to the two interns.
"This title is the most suitable and coincidentally one that may have the easiest data collection; however, there's still something wrong with this. Can you tell what it is?"
Anthony and Mary looked at the title, which made Mary shocked as it's her title, which is '10-year biodiversity index analysis of the effects of air, solid waste, and noise pollution in Fuchsia city' with an output intended to create a policy brief on how to mitigate these pollution types and how to regulate them. Anthony is also quite startled, though, because of his little bit of experience in research, this is the one that seems to be most appropriate out of all their titles, even without knowing that Prof. Josie is a peer reviewer.
Anthony wanted this title to be the one they would be doing for the next 5 months since he felt like readily available data are the ones needed for it, instead of primary data, so secondary research has to happen, so he immediately raised his hand after some 'deliberation'.
"My mom and dad said that research has to have only a specific topic within a broad topic. For example, if you want to study ghost types, you have to do it one Pokémon species at a time. However, in the title, it's implied that the data collection needs to be done through 3 types of pollution, which would pose a challenge since, while you can use comparative formulas, air pollution is obviously affecting flying types, and solid waste pollution shoots up the population of poison types."
Prof. Josie nodded as Anthony finished speaking. It doesn't need that much of an explanation, as such things are common sense that those two primary causes of pollution will have those primary effects.
"It will be skewed, right. So, what would you do?"
Prof. Josie, in her full teaching mode, looked at the two of them while still pointing at the title. Anthony observed that she's actually side-eyeing Mary, the creator of the title; obviously, she wants to gauge the foundation of the girl (which is quite weird since Mary is just 7 years old).
"... I... I think we ought to remove variables."
Mary also raised her hand, which made Prof. Josie nod and cross out 'air' and 'solid waste'. Mary seemed to sigh in relief as she saw the approving nod of the professor; she even put her hand on her chest as she seemed to have achieved something that she was afraid to do. Anthony is happy for her; it seems like she's willingly overcoming her fear with exposure therapy since she's the one who's been working harder in gathering titles, and the reason why he has many more than she is that Anthony is older than her.
"Then, I suggest you two remove air and solid waste since these two are already overstudied in the field of effects on the biodiversity index. Also, since we're a Pokémon research lab, add 'Pokémon' in the 'biodiversity index' of the title. That would be all for your defense. If you have any more questions, ask away or wait until the follow-up edit of your title."
At this moment, it was again Mary who had a question.
"Will we have a deadline for submission?"
It was one of his concerns, after all, she's used to having one in the Pokémon research center to regulate their time and make sure that they would do it on time, as procrastination is true even with kids. Hearing this, Josie, who had already started to pull out their new activity sheets and lab report sheets, looked at Mary.
"I suggest you finish it in 3 months since you would be graduating in the second week of December and you need to pass a copy of the research paper by November 1 and usually peer review takes 6 months since some people are just assholes that thinks highly of themselves, so if you want a better sense of achievement when getting your certificate, then you should probably do as such."
The graduations requirements in the internship for this activity is technically just doing research and submitting an IMRAD as well as a proof that you submitted a paper to a research journal, and while the interns are not given preferential treatment whatsoever, lots of students wanted to become serious researchers, so those that doesn't (like Anthony's mom and dad) are often dragged by the one who wanted to be a researcher to publish something.
In this regard, it's expected that 100% of the 7 remaining interns are to publish a paper of their own, as most of the ones that remained wanted to become full pledged researcher. Anthony also wanted to publish the paper, and Mary seems to also be getting determined, so it is expected that this advice will be adhered to by the two.
At this moment, while Anthony is applauding the question of Mary, he suddenly remembered something, so he also raised his hand. After Josie gave him the nod of permission to speak, Anthony immediately did.
"Since we will be dealing with secondary data and then using correlational formulas to them, can we request them to the statistician's office of this lab right now?"
While Mary was nodding, Prof. Josie suddenly looked at Anthony, and he, who had the same type of face as her, immediately knew that she had just flashed a 'is this bitch ass for real?' face. Indeed, Prof Josie didn't agree, which made Anthony click his tongue quietly.
"No, you can't, you will have to create an introduction and methodology section of your IMRAD draft and submit it to me either online or in physical versions, as they need to be attached to the letters that you two and I have to sign. And considering your new data collection activity, I would give you a week to create the two and give it to me."
Prof. Josie does not seem to want to delve into what Anthony said, and immediately went and changed the topic. Though in truth, the professor felt like laughing because of the suggestion of her student to literally just skip the two parts of their research that are required for their request to be approved.
You know, students' emotional health and such.
Prof. Josie, instead of thinking of such, just pulled out two lab report sheets that she immediately distributed to the two interns. Subsequently, the two interns immediately read the title of their new data collection task, which goes: Updated Census of non-ghost type Pokémon population in Lavender Town.
_Apparently, it's not a data collection for research but an annual census task. I don't know if this makes it easier or not, but I do am sure that me and Mary will not be resisting water pressure heavier than our weight combined._
Anthony doesn't want to go through those days where he has to limp around forcefully just to move around and go outside and to the training ground of Route 12 to train his Pokemons. It seems like his luck is quite good now, as their research doesn't need primary data collection, and his latest data collection work is not that tedious compared to before.