Introduction

Overview

Questions

• What is gained from good experimental design?

Objectives

• Connect experimental design with data quality and meaningful findings.

Good experimental design generates information-rich data with a clear message. In both scientific research and industry, experimental design plays a critical role in obtaining reliable and meaningful results. Scientists can better understand their work when they carry out well-conceived, well-executed experiments and then extract, communicate, and act on information generated in those experiments. This course will prepare scientists to design rigorous experiments that generate high-value data and to extract and communicate its messages. By applying statistical concepts in designing experiments, understanding variability, and drawing meaningful inferences, participants will be equipped with the knowledge and skills for data-driven decision-making.

Experimental design aims to describe and explain variation in natural systems by intervening to affect that variation directly. For example, the Salk polio vaccine trials collected data about variation in polio incidence after injecting more than 600,000 schoolchildren with vaccine or placebo. This clinical trial hypothesized that the vaccine would reduce the incidence of polio in schoolchildren. More than a million additional children were vaccinated and served as observed controls. The results showed evidence that the vaccine was 80-90% effective in preventing polio.

Key Points

• Good experimental design generates information-rich data with a clear message.