CHAPTER 1

PRINCIPLES OF
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

NUR SYALIZA HANIM CHE

YUSOF STA340
 1.1 What is an Experiment?

 Definition: Experiment as a test or series of tests in which purposeful changes are made to the input variables of a
process or system so that we may observe and identify the reasons for changes that may be observed in the output
response.
 Because the validity of an experiment is directly affected by its construction and execution, attention to
experimental design is extremely important.
 Statistical design of experiments refers to the process of planning the experiment so that appropriate data that can
be analyzed by statistical methods will be collected, resulting in valid and objective conclusions.
 Two aspects to any experimental problem:
 The design of the experiment
 The statistical analysis of the data.
 1.2 Objectives of the experiment

Experiments are designed for the following purposes:

 To provide estimates of treatment effects or differences among treatment effects.
 To provide an efficient way of confirming or denying conjectures about the response to treatment.
 To assess the reliability of estimates and conjectures.
 To estimate the variability of the experimental material.
 To increase precision by eliminating extraneous variation from the comparisons of interest.
 1.3 Basic Terminologies

Experimental unit
The difference among experimental
is a unit of material (people, plot of
units treated alike (receiving the same
land, animal, tress or leaves) to which
treatment) is called experimental
one application of a treatment is
error.
applied.

Treatment
Factor Response Variable
is a procedure or things whose effect is
is a controlled independent is a variable measured, predicted or
to be measured and compared with
variable under study (Set by monitored by the experimenter and
other treatments. The specific level of
experimenter) expected to be affected by the factor.
a factor is also called treatment.
 Experimental error can be controlled as below;
1. Proper use of experimental design.
2. Use of concomitant variables.
1.4 Experimental Error 3. Proper choice of size of experimental units.

Human error occurs when experimenter make a mistake. Examples; when set up experiment incorrectly,
misread an instrument or when make a mistake in calculation.

Systematic error is an error inherent in the experimental set up which causes the results to be skewed in
the same direction every time; always too large or too small.

Random error occurs because no measurement can be made with infinite precision. Example of random
error could be when making timings with a stopwatch.
 1.5 Basic Principle of Experimental Design

1. Replication
• When a treatment is applied more than once in an
experiment, it is said to be replicated. Replication is
the process of repeating a treatment on to another
experimental unit more than once.
• Why we have to do replication?
i. It provides an estimate of experimental error
because it provides several observations on
experimental unit receiving the same treatment.
ii. It increases precision by reducing standard
errors.
 1.5 Basic Principle of Experimental Design

2. Randomization
• Randomization is the process of allocating the experiment units in random
order to treatment. Or it is the process of performing the individual trials
of the experiment in random order.
• Why we have to do randomization?
i. To eliminate bias. Randomization ensures that no treatment is
favored or discriminated against by systematic assignment to units
in a design.
ii. To ensure independence among the observations. This is necessary
to provide valid significance tests and interval estimates.

NUR SYALIZA HANIM CHE YUSOF

 1.5 Basic Principle of Experimental Design

3. Blocking
• Blocking or local control is the technique used to increase the precision of an experiment.
A block is a group of homogeneous experimental units.
• The procedure here is to arrange the experimental material into groups, or blocks, of more
or less uniform experimental units.
• Treatments are then assigned at random to the units within the blocks.
• Why we have to do blocking?
i. It can increase the precision of an experiment. Difference among blocks is removed
from the experimental error in the analysis of the results.
ii. Treatments are compared under more nearly equal conditions because comparisons
are made within blocks of uniform units.
iii. It can sometimes increase the information from an experiment. Blocks need not be
placed at the same location or run at the same time. By placing blocks at different
locations, for example, a wider variety of conditions can be sampled with a given
experiment.
1.6 Guidelines for Designing an Experiment

1. Recognition of and statement of the problem.

2. Selection of the response variable.
3. Choice of factors, levels and ranges.
4. Choice of experimental design.
5. Performing the experiment.
6. Statistical analysis of the data.
7. Conclusions and recommendations.