PDD0008 - Experimental Design and Hypothesis Testing

Course Description

What is the scientific method? How do you ask a "good" scientific questions? What characteristics go into creating a logically sound hypothesis? A well-designed and constructed experiment will be robust under questioning and will focus criticism on conclusions, rather than potential experimental errors. Sound experimental design should follow the established scientific protocols and generate useful statistical comparisons. Using a customized version of iBiology's "Let's experiment," scientists from a variety of backgrounds will give concrete steps and advice to help you build a framework for how to design experiments in biological research. We will use case studies to make the abstract more tangible. In science, there is often no simple right answer. However, with this course, students can develop a general approach to experimental design and hypothesis testing. After completing this course, students will be able to analyze the logic structure hypothesis, define the various components of an experiment, and generate an independent hypothesis. Learning objective: Students will write a blog post that defines and provides examples of the main course topics, including the framework for a scientific inquiry, the properly identify experimental variables, and bias within the experimental design.