Experimental Design and Ethics

Vocabulary flashcards covering experimental design, bias, replication, and ethics in scientific research.

Experimental Design

A systematic approach to planning experiments to investigate relationships between variables.

Bias

Systematic error that favors some data and not others in an experimental design.

Random Assignment

Assigning participants to experimental groups randomly to minimize bias.

Blinding

Hiding information from participants or researchers to eliminate bias.

Replication

Repeating an experiment to increase confidence in the results and minimize random error.

Standard Error

A measure of the statistical accuracy of an estimate, decreasing with larger sample sizes.

Independence

Each sample should be independent from all others

Pseudo-replication

Treating non-independent observations as if they were statistically independent.

Experimental Unit

The independent unit to which treatments are assigned.

Blocked Experiment

Multiple treatments happen in each experimental unit

Nested Experiment

Each experimental unit holds one treatment group

Paired Experiment

Each experimental unit contains one of each treatment

Statistical Ethics

Principles of conduct concerning the generation, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data.

Humanitarian Ethics

Principles of conduct concerning minimization of risk, informed consent, and guarded privacy of human subjects in research.

Informed Consent

Agreement to participate in research, given freely after being fully informed of what participation entails

Institutional Review Boards (IRB)

Committees that review research proposals to ensure the protection of human subjects.