Experimental Design is a system

of procedure regulating the

assignment of treatments to
experimental plot. The basic
principles involve in these designs are
replications, randomization and
error control
Replication-the precision of the experiment can
only be increase by additional of replication but
the degree of improvement may fall off as the
number of replication increases.

Randomization-the procedure involve in the

selection of samples or the assignment of
treatment in a manner that the probability of
drawing a sample or assigning a treatment is the
same as any other sample or treatment.
Error control-the various experimental
techniques administered to increase precision. In
field experiment this may take the form of
managing one or more of the following:

• Plot size Residual effect

• Replicates Missing data/observation
• Blocking Treatment & expt’l mat
• Randomization Sampling technique
• Border effect
1. Descriptive Design -is used for inquires into
the nature of an event or a phenomenon. It seeks
to identify the characteristics of the event and
categories it into some descriptive variables
An example of an investigatory project of this type is the
“Identification of the optimum level of N fertilizer for Crop
yield”
• The object event crop yield
• The independent variable is the N level
• The dependent variable is yield
• The objective is which N level gives the highest yield.
• The design consist of the treatment & the
number of replicates. Thus we have:

Treatment 0–no fertilizer

5 kg N fertilizer
10 kg N fertilizer
• Replicate 3 or 4 each treatment
• Analysis technique-Simple CRD
•The findings-answers which level N gives the
highest yield
2. Analytic Design
The analytic Design test hypothesis of relationship.
There are two groups of this design.

2.1 Observational-involve test of hypothesis

without manipulating the study factors. This is
usually based on records of the past event.
2.2 Experimental-the researcher manipulates
the study factors. An important pre-requisite of
this in the use of randomization or random
sampling
Characteristics of well planned experiment

3.1. Simplicity
3.2. Degree of precision
3.3. Absence of Systematic error
3.4. Range of validity
3.5. Calculation of degree of uncertainty
Basic Requirement of Experiments

4.1. Random assignment of treatment.

4.2. Treatment and control (no treatment )
group
4.3. Observations during the experiment and
other factors which may effect the
experimental treatment
 The Latin
Square Design
 Latin Square Design
 Is a modified randomized design.
 This design probably not used as much as they should be.
 LSD allows for two blocking factors
 Is used to simultaneously control or eliminate two
variability
 This was inspired by mathematical papers by Leonard Euler
 is used where the researcher desires to control the
variation in an experiment that is related to rows and
columns in the field.
 Other symbols can be used instead of Latin
letters, like alphabetic sequence and integer
sequence
Example A:
A B C

C A B

B C A
Example B:
The effect of both light and temperature
on the growth of mahogany seedlings
grown in three types of soil, namely
humus, loam, and sand, was conducted
in growth room whose light and
temperature distribution vary end to
end and side to side .
Loam Humus Sand
Lot1 vertical 1 assignment Lot1 vertical 2 assignment Lot1 vertical 3 assignment
Lot 1 horizontal 1 assignment Lot2 horizontal 1 assignment Lot3 horizontal 1 assignment

Lot1 mahogany seedling plot Lot4 mahogany seedling plot Lot7 mahogany seedling plot
Lot10 mahogany seedling plot Lot13 mahogany seedling plot Lot16 mahogany seedling plot
Lot19 mahogany seedling plot Lot22 mahogany seedling plot Lot25 mahogany seedling plot

Sand Loam Humus

Lot2 vertical 1 assignment Lot2 vertical 2 assignment Lot2 vertical 3 assignment
Lot1 horizontal 2 assignment Lot2 horizontal 2 assignment Lot3 horizontal 2 assignment

Lot2 mahogany seedling plot Lot5 mahogany seedling plot Lot 8 mahogany seedling plot
Lot11 mahogany seedling plot Lot14 mahogany seedling plot Lot17 mahogany seedling plot
Lot20 mahogany seedling plot Lot23 mahogany seedling plot Lot26 mahogany seedling plot

Humus Sand Loam

Lot3 vertical 1 assignment Lot3 vertical 2 assignment Lot3 vertical 3 assignment
Lot1 horizontal 3 assignment Lot2 horizontal 3 assignment Lot3 horizontal 3 assignment

Lot3 mahogany seedling plot Lot6 mahogany seedling plot Lot9 mahogany seedling plot
Lot12 mahogany seedling plot Lot15 mahogany seedling plot Lot18 mahogany seedling plot
Lot21 mahogany seedling plot Lot24 mahogany seedling plot Lot27 mahogany seedling plot
 Treatments are assigned at random within rows and
columns, with each treatment once per row and
once per column.
 There are equal numbers of rows, columns, and
treatments.
 Latin square is an n×n array filled with n different
symbols.
 Whenever, you have more than one blocking factor
a Latin Square will allow you to remove the
variation foe these two sources from error
variation.
The Complete Randomized Design

CRD
The design allows the assignment of
homogenous sample population and
treatment to pure chance, without prior bias
to choice of sample to a particular treatment
or group. The homogeneity of the sample is
based both on their characters and the
factors that are inherent in the eventual
comparison of the treatment being studied.
 Example
Thirty-six mungbean seedling of the same height and numbers of leaves
were made available purposely for the study on the effect of anti-nul
blood sera as fertilizer on the growth of plants in terms of height and
numbers of leaves. There are three sera sources , i.,e, cow, pig, and
goat , and four concentration levels for each sera 100%-0%,75%-
25%, 50%-50, and 25%-75% sera water concentration.
Three seedlings were randomly assigned to 12 of these treatment
groups, which are label C1, C2, C3, C4, P1, P2, P3, P4, G1, G2, G3, and
G4. Assignment to each treatment group is achieved by assigning each
seedling with a label, say number 1 to 36. Using the fishbowl method of
random sampling, the first three lots drawn were assigned to C1, P1, and
G1,-respectively, and the next three to C2, P2, and G2, respectively ,and
the so on , until all were to a particular treatment group.
 Advantage of CRD
The CRD is a flexible design as it limits the number of
treatments and replication based on the available
experiment organism. It requires simple and easy
statistical analysis , even when the number of replication
per treatment is not the same or the experimental error
differs from each treatment. It remains even simple and
easy despite the missing or rejected experimental subjects
or treatment . There is a small loss of information due to
missing observation.
 Appropriateness of the CRD
The CRD is appropriate when the test
organism posses similar characteristics
and if several die-backs in the sample
population is expected.
 Figure 1 CRD for the determination of animal blood sera as fertilizer on the growth of mungbean plant in terms of
height and number of leaves.
Cow 1 Cow2 Cow 3 Cow4
100%-0% 75%-25% 50%-50% 25%-75%
(3 replicates) (3 replicates ) (3 replicates ) (3 replicates )
Lot 1 Lot 4 Lot 7 Lot 10
Lot 13 Lot 16 Lot19 Lot 22
Lot 25 Lot 28 Lot 31 Lot 34

Pig1 Pig2 Pig3 Pig 4

100%-05 75%-25% 50%-50% 25%-75%
(3 replicates) (3 replicates ) (3 replicates ) (3 replicates )
Lot 2 Lot 5 Lot 8 Lot 11
Lot 14 Lot 17 Lot 20 Lot 23
Lot 26 lot29 Lot 32 Lot 35
Goat 1 Goat 2 Goat 3 Goat 4
100%-05 75%-25% 50%-50% 25%-75%
(3 replicates) (3 replicates ) (3 replicates ) (3 replicates )
Lot 3 Lot 6 Lot 9 Lot 12
Lot 15 Lot 18 Lot21 Lot 24
Randomized Complete
Block Design

RCBD
 Randomized Complete
Block Design

This design allows the groupings of experimental

subjects of heterogeneous characteristics into more
or less homogenous groups called blocks. By
grouping them based on some identified
characteristics , the differences that would be
observed would be largely due to the treatments and
not due to their characteristics.
 Randomized Complete
Block Design

This is a two-step Completely

Randomized Design, as it involved (1)
grouping of experimental subjects into
blocks, and (2) application of complete
randomization.
 Randomized Complete
Block Design
Example:
There are 100 golden apple snails bred in a concrete culvert
tank for the study of the effects of the increasing concentration of
rice husks ash in the percent mortality and LC50 of these snails.
Since the snails are of different sizes, they were first distributed into
blocks. They were grouped into 3 size groups or block of >2cm, 2cm-
4cm, and <4cm, labeled as S1, S2, and S3, respectively. From each
block, 5 snails were randomly selected by lottery for each of the
three treatment concentrations, namely, 0.1 ml, 0.5 ml, and 1 ml,
labeled as C1, C2, and C3 respectively.
 Randomized Complete
Block Design
This is a 3x3 design, consisting of three
treatment groups for each of the three size
groups or blocks, thus 9 treatment groups were
necessary, i.e., S1-C1, S1-C2, S1-C3, S2-C1, S2-
C2, S2-C3, S3-C1, S3-C2, , and S3-C3. A total of
45 snails were chosen since there were 5 snails
as replicates for the three treatment groups.
RCBD CONCENTRATION CONCENTRATION CONCENTRATION
Design 1 2 3

Size 1 5 snails 5 snails 5 snails

Size 2 5 snails 5 snails 5 snails

Size 3 5 snails 5 snails 5 snails

 Advantages of Randomized
Complete Block Design

This design ensures a more accurate results than

the CRD because of the blocking procedure.
Furthermore, there are no restrictions as to the
number of treatment of number of blocks. It is
possible to have extended replication for some
treatment groups, as it is applicable to two or more
experimental subjects per block.
 Disadvantages of Randomized
Complete Block Design

It is always difficult to form blocks with

homogenous experimental units.
Furthermore, a large experimental error is
always possible what the variation among
the experimental subjects within a block is
too large.
 Appropriateness of the Randomized
Complete Block Design

If the experimental subjects can be

grouped or blocked according to certain
characteristics such as age, gender, etc., in
order to achieve homogeneity , the RCBD is
more appropriate. It is also appropriate to use
when few drop-outs among the sample
populations are expected.