BI3052 Study Design

This course aims to provide MSc students from all study programs in biology with a solid background in scientific methods and study design, as a basis for their own MSc projects. This includes the ability to generate hypotheses and predictions, to assess alternative ways of answering scientific questions by means of experimental or non-experimental studies in the lab or in the field, and issues such as pseudoreplication, confounding factors, observer effects and measurement theory that apply to both observational and experimental studies. The course uses an interactive seminar-based approach to provide students with a working knowledge of the various design issues in scientific research. At each session, introductory lectures will be followed by tutored group discussions and design problem-solving assignments, with summing-up during plenary presentations and discussions. After introducing why good design is important in scientific studies, we will deal with how to formulate good research questions. The suitability of observational vs. experimental studies and laboratory vs. field studies will be discussed along with issues concerning assumptions and test conditions, confounding effects, correlation vs. causation, pseudoreplication and observer effects. Details of observational and experimental design will taught and connections provided to statistical analyses. The course will also tackle issues in measurement theory (collecting and defining the correct measurements and the consequences of these measurements), sample size and statistical power.