Course Topics
The goal of this short course is to introduce methods for creating good designed experiments. We will focus on basic principles, terminology, and
- The steps for planning, designing, and analyzing an experiment
- The importance of replication, randomization, and controlling error (e.g. blocking)
- What the difference is between experimental units and observational units, how you can tell which is which, and why it matters
- Some basics on fixed versus random effects
- Sample size and power, and some difficulties associated with them
- The importance of the sequential process of carrying out experiments.
Also, though we will talk about how proper design affects the analysis of experiments, we will not be discussing how to do ANOVA or how to use any software packages. For this reason, only a minimal amount of knowledge concerning statistical concepts will be necessary.