PLS205
DESIGN, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION OF EXPERIMENTS
WINTER QUARTER 2008
Guidelines for Extra Credit Report
Objective: To give students a chance to apply the concepts of the course to their own experiments, thereby strengthening their understanding of the principles of good experimental design and improving their own research.
Assignment: Prepare a short
report of an experiment focusing on the
experimental design (i.e. the primary focus of the report should be a
thorough consideration of the merits and demerits of the experimental
design). In most cases in science, one
applies statistical techniques to analyze data. In this report, you will
use your data to analyze statistical
methods. Your report must follow the
outline specified below:
a) Introduction: (1/2 page):
a1 Purpose of the study,
a2 Hypothesis to be tested
b) Materials and Methods:
(1/2 page):
b1 Describe the material used, procedures of data collection
and the conduct of the experiment.;
b2 Define your Experimental Unit and randomization
procedures;
b3 Define your level of replication;
b4 Define your Factors and levels of each factor;
b5 Are they fixed or random? Why?;
b6 Define your variables. Are you using any covariable?;
b7 Is the design balanced or unbalanced
c) Results: (Up to 3 pages)
c1 Present a schematic representation of the design;
c2 Summarize your main effects using boxplots;
c3 Describe the selected method of data analysis;
c4 Test the assumptions. Plot the residuals;
c5 Transform the data if necessary;
c6 Test and discuss interactions. Plot 2-way interactions;
c7 Depending on the significance of the interactions perform
the appropriate tests;
c8 Indicate your criteria for selection of a method of mean
separation;
c9 Present an ORGANIZED AND INTERPRETED output
d) Discussion: (1 Page)
d1 Interpret the results from the data analysis;
d2 Describe the results in relation to the objective of the
study;
d3 Compare when possible the relative efficiency of the
model;
d4 Write the conclusions of the study
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Last updated: December 2007