2O1SCI skills for Science

2016/17
Week 2: Session 3: Introduction to
Experimental Design (1.0)

Recap: Why experiment?

To discover facts
Something that hasnt previously been
investigated before

Could be to assess the effectiveness

of Herb X on weight loss in the obese
Or compare two (or more) types of
exercise and see which one is most
effective in causing weight loss

Questions, questions and more

questions
Successful experimental design is
centred around the question you
intend to answer
1. Plant growth compared with and without
fertiliser
2. Individuals given drug compared with
individuals not given drug
3. Number of butterfly species in meadow
monitored
4. View of NHS staff to new procedures

Experiment Design
Establish the key aims, objectives and
hypothesis
Determine and investigate the sample
type and size of sample
Establish methodology
Unbiased
Precision
Possible errors

Design statistical analysis

What is a Hypothesis?
A tentative statement that proposes
a possible explanation to some
phenomenon or event
A useful hypothesis is a testable
statement which may include a
prediction
Any procedure you follow without a
hypothesis is not an experiment

You cannot prove a

hypothesis
Scientific laws cannot be shown to be
True or False
They are held as Provisionally True

Defining a Hypothesis

An experiment should be designed to

test one or more specific hypotheses
A hypothesis is a clear statement
offering a possible explanation for
observations
Example:
Observation:
seems to
Question:
power output
Hypothesis:
put of

Power output of muscle

increase with Drug X
Does Drug X increase
Drug X increases power out
muscle when compared to

Testing a Hypothesis
Science assumes no relationship until
proven otherwise
Innocent until proven guilty

Therefore the null hypothesis (H0) is

assumed to be true unless there is
statistical evidence to prove it is not
Stats offer an objective means to
identify differences between data sets

The Null Hypothesis H0

Example:
Null Hypothesis:
Drug X has no effect on
muscle
power output
Hypothesis testing: If there is statistically a
greater
power output in the
muscles
exposed to Drug X, the H0
is
rejected

Hypothesis Testing
Types of error
Type I
Reject the null hypothesis when it is
really true

Type II
Accept the null hypothesis when it is
really false

Multiple Hypotheses
Example:
Observation: Patients in beds nearest to the
hospital ward entrance respond
better
to treatment than those further
away
Hypothesis 1: Patients are not distributed
evenly,
the ward sister places more
severe
cases at the quieter end of the
ward
Hypothesis 2: Patients near the door are seen
first
on the doctors rounds and get
more

Controls

To create a point of reference

How do you know if something is different if you dont have
anything to compare to!
Controls are essential
A control is an experimental unit which has been given no
treatment
The control group must not differ from the treated group in any
way other than the treatment

Use of Controls
Example 1:
Hypothesis
Caged rats that receive a vitamin supplement
with their food live longer
Control Group:
The control group receive the same food but
without the vitamin supplement
Require an identical control group of rats to
those treated, i.e. from the same source, same
strain, same age and kept under identical
conditions
An identical group produced by randomly
assigning rats to either the Treated or
Untreated group

Use of Controls
Example 2:
Testing a new drug

A suitably-sized group of test subjects

are randomly assigned to two test
groups:
Group A
is given the new drug
Group B
is given a placebo
Using a Double-Blind study avoids potential
bias

an independent person assigns subjects

to groups
the researcher does not know which
particular patient is given the drug or
the placebo

Are controls always needed?

There are some circumstances where controls are
unnecessary

Examples
Hypothesis 1:
Which of the three varieties of carrot
grow best in particular conditions?
Hypothesis 2:
How does the timing of fertiliser
feeding affect the growth of tomato
plants?
No controls needed because the treatment groups
are compared with each other

Task
Experimental design..
Hypothesis
Aims/Objectives
Identify variables
Stats
Equipment list?
Health and safety?

Things you need to think

about

Hypothesis- Null hypothesis and

hypothesis
Aims/objectives- Think about what the
specific Q is, then think how you would do
it
Variables- What are your main variables?
Are there any that you may need to
account for or control?
Stats- Identify the stats test you may use
Equipment and health and safety- think
about what you could possibly use,
perhaps look at papers that have done a

Scenarios
Does oxygen consumption increase
after 3, 6 and 12 weeks aerobic
training?
Does cyclosporine reduce cardiac
myocyte cell death after a heart
attack?
Is there a difference in the force of
contraction between aged and young

Go away and complete task

Come back and discuss your
experiments