The effective design of scientific experiments is critical to success, yet graduate students receive very little formal training in how to do it. Based on a well-received course taught by the author, Experimental Design for Biologistsfills this gap. Experimental Design for Biologistsexplains how to establish the framework for an experimental project, how to set up a system, design experiments within that system, and how to determine and use the correct set of controls. Separate chapters are devoted to negative controls, positive controls, and other categories of controls that are perhaps less recognized, such as “assumption controls†and “experimentalist controls†. Furthermore, there are sections on establishing the experimental system, which include performing critical “system controls†. Should all experimental plans be hypothesis-driven? Is a question/answer approach more appropriate? What was the hypothesis behind the Human Genome Project? What color is the sky? How does one get to Carnegie Hall? The answers to these kinds of questions can be found in Experimental Design for Biologists. Written in an engaging manner, the book provides compelling lessons in framing an experimental question, establishing a validated system to answer the question, and deriving verifiable models from experimental data. Experimental Design for Biologistsis an essential source of theory and practical guidance in designing a research plan.

This richly illustrated book provides an overview of the design and analysis of experiments with a focus on non-clinical experiments in the life sciences, including animal research. It covers the most common aspects of experimental design such as handling multiple treatment factors and improving precision. In addition, it addresses experiments with large numbers of treatment factors and response surface methods for optimizing experimental conditions or biotechnological yields. The book emphasizes the estimation of effect sizes and the principled use of statistical arguments in the broader scientific context. It gradually transitions from classical analysis of variance to modern linear mixed models, and provides detailed information on power analysis and sample size determination, including ‘portable power’ formulas for making quick approximate calculations. In turn, detailed discussions of several real-life examples illustrate the complexities and aberrations that can arise in practice. Chiefly intended for students, teachers and researchers in the fields of experimental biology and biomedicine, the book is largely self-contained and starts with the necessary background on basic statistical concepts. The underlying ideas and necessary mathematics are gradually introduced in increasingly complex variants of a single example. Hasse diagrams serve as a powerful method for visualizing and comparing experimental designs and deriving appropriate models for their analysis. Manual calculations are provided for early examples, allowing the reader to follow the analyses in detail. More complex calculations rely on the statistical software R, but are easily transferable to other software. Though there are few prerequisites for effectively using the book, previous exposure to basic statistical ideas and the software R would be advisable.

Regression, analysis of variance, correlation, graphical.

Specifically intended for lab-based biomedical researchers, this practical guide shows how to design experiments that are reproducible, with low bias, high precision, and widely applicable results. With specific examples from research using both cell cultures and model organisms, it explores key ideas in experimental design, assesses common designs, and shows how to plan a successful experiment. It demonstrates how to control biological and technical factors that can introduce bias or add noise, and covers rarely discussed topics such as graphical data exploration, choosing outcome variables, data quality control checks, and data pre-processing. It also shows how to use R for analysis, and is designed for those with no prior experience. An accompanying website (https://stanlazic.github.io/EDLB.html) includes all R code, data sets, and the labstats R package. This is an ideal guide for anyone conducting lab-based biological research, from students to principle investigators working in either academia or industry.

This illustrated textbook for biologists provides a refreshingly clear and authoritative introduction to the key ideas of sampling, experimental design, and statistical analysis. The author presents statistical concepts through common sense, non-mathematical explanations and diagrams. These are followed by the relevant formulae and illustrated by w

Increasing numbers of physicists, chemists, and mathematicians are moving into biology, reading literature across disciplines, and mastering novel biochemical concepts. To succeed in this transition, researchers must understand on a practical level what is experimentally feasible. The number of experimental techniques in biology is vast and often s