Experimental Design

Course Outline

Generalized Linear Models

Generalized inverse of a matrix

Factorial experiments

Symmetric and Asymmetric

Balance and Partially balanced incomplete log design

Resolvable row-column Designs

Response surface methodology

Construction of designs

N.B: Experimental designs and Analysis of variance are interwoven. F-statistics helps whether to accept a
null hypothesis.

INTRODUCTION

An Experimental Factor is the one where the levels of the factor is assigned at random to the
experimental unit by the investigator. For instance, allocation of types of fertilizers to different plots of a
field experiment. A factor is an independent variable to be studied. There are different types of factors -
qualitative and quantitative factors.

Qualitative factors: The level differs by some qualitative attributes while a quantitative factor has the
levels described by numeric quantity on a scale e.g Temp, Age, etc.

Experimental designs can be used everywhere experiment is carried out. It is vastly used in Agriculture,
other areas include Biology, Chemistry, Health Sciences, etc. It involves planning a set of procedures to
investigate a relationship between variables. To perform experimental design, you need a testable
hypothesis and at least one independent variable that can be decisively manipulated and at least one
dependent variable that can be decisively measured.

Experimental Units: The Experimental materials Is divided into smaller parts to conduct an experiment.
Each part is experimental unit. The Experimental unit Is randomly assigned to treatment.

Treatment: Different objects of procedures which are to be compared.

Sampling unit: The objects that is measured in an experiment.

Replication: Repetition of the experimental situation by replicating the experimental unit.

___________ : Unexplained random part of the variation in any experiment.

Treatment design: Manner in which the levels of treatments are arranged in an experiment.

Principles of experimental designs

Randomisation replication Local control

______________________________________________ class note stops

Further studies _______________________________________________

Introduction to Experimental Design:

In the realm of scientific research, experimental design serves as a structured approach to investigating
relationships between variables.

1. Experimental Factor:- An experimental factor represents the independent variable under

investigation. In an agricultural context, this could be different types of fertilizers applied to various
plots.

- Factors can be qualitative or quantitative:

- Qualitative Factors: These factors vary by qualitative attributes, such as fertilizer brand or soil type.

- Quantitative Factors: These factors have levels described by numeric quantities on a scale, like
temperature or age.

2. Utility Across Disciplines:- Experimental design finds applications across diverse fields such as
agriculture, biology, chemistry, and health sciences.

- It facilitates the systematic planning of procedures to explore relationships between variables,

enabling researchers to draw meaningful conclusions.
3. Key Components:

- Experimental Units: These are the individual components into which the experimental material is
divided. Each unit represents a part of the experimental setup.

- **Experimental Unit Randomization:** Random assignment of experimental units to different

treatments ensures unbiased comparison and helps control for confounding factors.

- **Treatment:** Treatments represent the different conditions or interventions being compared in

the experiment.

- **Sampling Unit:** The sampling unit refers to the objects or entities from which measurements or
observations are collected.

- **Replication:** Replication involves repeating the experiment under identical conditions to assess
the consistency and reliability of the results.

- **Error Term:** The error term accounts for unexplained variability in the data, including random
variation and any uncontrolled factors influencing the outcome.

- **Treatment Design:** This refers to the arrangement of treatments in the experiment, which can
impact the validity and interpretability of the results.

### Principles of Experimental Design:

1. **Randomization:**

- Randomization involves the random assignment of treatments to experimental units to minimize bias
and ensure representative samples.

- It helps distribute unknown variation due to compound variables and breaks confounding influences.

2. **Replication:**

- Replication entails repeating treatments multiple times to obtain reliable estimates and increase the
precision of the experiment.

- It provides a measure of experimental error and enhances the statistical power of the analysis.
3. **Local Control:**

- Local control techniques, such as blocking or stratification, are employed to reduce variability within
the experiment.

- By grouping similar experimental units together, local control helps isolate the effects of interest and
minimize the impact of extraneous factors.

Experimental design principles lay the foundation for robust and meaningful scientific investigations,
ensuring that research findings are credible, reproducible, and generalizable across various contexts.

Randomisation

This principle involves the allocation of treatments to experimental units at random to avoid any bias in
the experiment resulting from the influence of some extraneous unknown factors that may affect the
experiment. Randomisation gives the following outcome:

It is needed to obtain a representative sample of the population

It helps to distribute unknown variation due to compound variables throughout the experiment and
breaks confounding Influence.

The randomisation process such that each receives treatment is called complete randomisation.

Replication

Any treatment is repeated a number of times to obtain a valid and more reliable estimate than which is
possible with one observation only. It provides an efficient way of increasing the precision of an
experiment.

Local control
The replication is used with local control to reduce experimental error and this increases the efficiency.

Generalised Linear Model

Type of models

Fixed Effect (Model 1)

Random Effect (Model 2)

Mixed Effect (Model 3 - combination of model 1 and 2)

Fixed Effect Model

When all inferences and conclusions of the study are only meant o some factors (treatments) contained
in the study, then such model is called FIXED EFFECT MODEL.

Random Effect Model

If the treatment used are random samples drawn from the population of their respective factor levels
and the inferences drawn are meant to be generalised to the entire population of the treatment. Such is
said to be RANDOM EFFECT MODEL.

Mixed Effect Model

If in a multi-factor study, some of the factors have Fixed effect, and some have Random effect, then the
whole model is said to be MIXED EFFECT.

In summary, Model 1 is applicable when the factor levels are chosen simply because of intrinsic interest
in them and they are not considered as a sample from a larger population. Model 2 is appropriate when
the factor level constitutes a sample from a large population. For a single factor Fixed effect model,
there is an Anova analytical model for it Which is

Yij =U +Tij+eij
Anova table

Source of variance Degree of freedom Sum of squares Mean squares F

Least Square estimate of parameters