|
|
Reduction Alternatives
Common errors in experimental design
Common errors in experimental design in animal-based research include:
- using an experimental design repeatedly without proper scientific justification
(i.e. because it is common in the literature or the investigator is comfortable with it);
- failure to correctly identify the experimental unit;
- lack of power (i.e. experiments unable to detect clinical or biologically relevant responses
due to small sample sizes, measurement error, use of heterogeneous material, or use of incorrect
statistical methods in analysis;
- uncontrolled variation (e.g., experimental units not allocated randomly, or treated and control
animals kept separately and measured at different times and/or by different people); and
- potential for bias (e.g., un-blinded measurement of subjective measures).
For more discussion of common errors in experimental design, the following resources may be useful:
- Anon (2005) Statistically significant. Nature Medicine 1:1.
- Festing M.F.W. (1994) Reduction of animal use: experimental design and the quality of experiments.
Laboratory Animals 28:212-221.
- A review of experimental design using case studies
- Festing M.F.W., Overend P., Das R.G., Borga M.C. & Berdoy M. (2002) The Design of
Animal Experiments. 112pp. London: RSM Press.
- Festing M.F.W. (2003) Principles: the need for better experimental design. TRENDS in
Pharmacological Sciences 24:341-345.
- McKendrick I. (2004) The role of the statistician in the Scottish Agricultural and Biological
Research Institutes. ATLA 32 (Suppl. 2):23-27.
For more discussion of statistics education, the following resources may be useful:
(Back to Top)
|
