Planning the Experimental Design
Preparing the Experimental Design
The following are the parts of an experimental design and the corresponding steps in preparing the design:
- Constant(s): List the factor(s) that will remain the same throughout the experiment.
- Number of Samples/Trials/Experimental Units: Indicate the number of experimental units you will use and the number of sampling or trials that you will carry out during the research.
- Materials and Equipment: List the materials and equipment you intend to use during the research.
- References: List the key references or journal articles upon which your science investigation will be based.
- Safety Issues: List any issues that may arise related to safety and indicate how you will handle each of them to prevent illness, injuries, and/or damage to property.
- Ethical Issues: List any issues that may arise related to the treatment of people, animals, and/or other lifeforms, and how you will conduct your experiment to ensure the ethical treatment of these people, animals, and/or other life-forms.
- Working Title: Write a tentative title for your science investigation.
- Proposed Charts, Graphs, or Data Tables: Indicate the charts, graphs, and other data tables that you plan to use to collect your data. Label their columns and rows.
- Procedure: Enumerate the steps of the procedure that you will follow to generate or gather data. Use numbers to indicate the sequence of these steps. Include the materials and equipment, if any, that you will use in a step and specify such details as quantity or concentration of a material, as applicable. This part of the experimental design should be so detailed that another person can replicate the research following the directions in the procedure.
- Statistical Treatments: Indicate the appropriate measures of central tendency, measures of dispersion, and inferential statistics in the research.
