DR.

APJ ABDUL KALAM TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

Branch – PHARMACY
Biostatistics And Research Methodology (BP801T)
Lecture – 21

Introduction of Research (Part-2)

By

Dr. MANOJ KUMAR SHARMA

Associate Professor
I.T.S College of Pharmacy, MURADNAGAR
Contents
• Experiential Design Technique,
• Plagiarism
 Experimental design
• Experimental design is the process of planning
a study to meet specified objectives. Planning
an experiment properly is very important in
order to ensure that the right type of data and a
sufficient sample size and power are available
to answer the research questions of interest as
clearly and efficiently as possible. Because the
validity of an experiment is directly affected by
its construction and execution, attention
to experimental design is extremely important.
 Principles of experimental design
There are three basic principles behind any
experimental design:
• Randomization: the random allocation of
treatments to the experimental units.
Randomize to avoid confounding between
treatment effects and other unknown effects.
• Replication: the repetition of a treatment within
an experiment allows:
To quantify the natural variation between
experimental units.
To increase accuracy of estimated effects.
Principles of experimental design
Local Control: by controlling as
much as possible the conditions in
the experiment. A classical example
is the grouping of similar
experimental units in blocks.
Using known
characteristics/properties of the
experimental units to explain
variation, for example inclusion of
block effects in the statistical model.
 Components of an Experimental Design
• A response variable: the property of prime interest that is
measured and that you want to study (e.g. grain yield, plant
height, etc).
• One or more explanatory variables: the property or
properties that you think will affect the response variable and
that you want to investigate. There are two major types of
explanatory variables:
• Factor: categorical explanatory variable classifying each
observation as belonging to a specific group. Each group of a
factor is called a factor level. A distinction can be made
between:
• Treatment factors: factors with levels that are of direct
interest and that we want to compare, for example Variety
with levels variety A, B, and C.
 Cont.
• Blocking factors: factors with levels that are not of
direct interest, but that are important to control
variation in the experiment, so are part of the
experimental design, for example blocks.
• Covariate: is a continuous explanatory variable that
quantifies some property of each observation on a
continuous scale. Again, we can make the distinction
between covariates that are of interest (for example the
amount of nitrogen in kg/ha when you want to investigate
the effect of nitrogen on say, grain yield) or covariates that
are used to correct for differences between experimental
units that are not related to the treatments (reduces the
experimental error).
 In terms of the experiment, we need to define the following:
• Treatment: is what we want to compare in the
experiment. It can consist of the levels of a single factor,
a combination of levels of more than one factor, or of
different quantities of an explanatory variable.
• Experimental unit: is the physical unit that receives a
particular treatment, for example, a plot in the field. It is
essential that the allocation of a treatment to a particular
experimental unit is at random.
• Measurement unit: the level at which observations are
made, usually one measurement per experimental unit,
but it is possible to make more than one observation
within a single experimental unit (repeated measures).
 Cont…
• Replication: is the number of independent
instances of a treatment that occur within an
experiment i.e. several experimental units receive
the same treatment.
• Block: is a group of experimental units that show
some similarity/homogeneity between each other.
Random allocation of treatments to units within
blocks reduces experimental error.
•Sampling unit:The object that is measured in an
experiment is called the sampling unit. This may be
different from the experimental unit.
 Example: (Ref.: Statistical Design, G. Casella, Chapman
and Hall, 2008)
•Suppose some varieties of fish food is to be investigated on
some species of fishes. The food is placed in the water tanks
containing the fishes. The response is the increase in the weight
of fish. The experimental unit is the tank, as the treatment is
applied to the tank, not to the fish. Note that if the experimenter
had taken the fish in hand and placed the food in the mouth of
fish, then the fish would have been the experimental unit as
long as each of the fish got an independent scoop of food.
 Completely randomized design (CRD)
The CRD is the simplest design. Suppose there are v
treatments to be compared.
 All experimental units are considered the same
and no division or grouping among them exist.
 In CRD, the v treatments are allocated randomly
to the whole set of experimental units, without
making any effort to group the experimental
units in any way for more homogeneity.
 CRD Cont…
 Design is entirely flexible in the sense that any
number of treatments or replications may be used.
 The number of replications for different treatments
need not be equal and may vary from treatment to
treatment depending on the knowledge (if any) on
the variability of the observations on individual
treatments as well as on the accuracy required for
the estimate of individual treatment effect.
 Example:
Suppose there are 4 treatments and 20
experimental units, then
- the treatment 1 is replicated, say 3 times and
is given to 3 experimental units,
- the treatment 2 is replicated, say 5 times and
is given to 5 experimental units,
- the treatment 3 is replicated, say 6 times and is
given to 6 experimental units and
- finally, the treatment 4 is replicated [20-
(6+5+3)=]6 times and is given to the remaining 6
CRD Cont…
 All the variability among the experimental units
goes into experimented error.
 CRD is used when the experimental material is
homogeneous.
 CRD is often inefficient.
 CRD is more useful when the experiments are
conducted inside the lab.
 CRD is well suited for the small number of
treatments and for the homogeneous experimental
material.
 Layout of CRD
• Following steps are needed to design a CRD:
Divide the entire experimental material or
area into a number of experimental units, say
n.
Fix the number of replications for
different treatments in advance(for given
total number of available experimental
units).
No local control measure is provided as such
except that the error variance can be reduced
by choosing a homogeneous set of
experimental units.
Procedure-Let the v treatments are numbered from
1,2,...,v and ni be the number of replications required for

th treatment such that  ni  n.

i
 Select n1 units out of n units randomly and apply treatment 1 to
these n1 units.
(Note: This is how the randomization principle is utilized is
CRD.)
 Select n2 units out of ( n  n1) units randomly and apply treatment 2
to these n2 units.
 Continue with this procedure until all the treatments have been
utilized.
 Generally, the equal number of treatments are allocated to all the
Completely Randomized Design
A completely randomized (CR) design, which is the simplest type of the basic
designs,
may be defined as a design in which the treatments are assigned to experimental units
completely at random. That is, the randomization is done without any restrictions.
The design is completely flexible, i.e., any number of treatments and any number of
units per treatment may be used. Moreover, the number of units per treatment need
not be equal. A completely randomized design is considered to be most useful I
n situations where (i) the experimental units are homogeneous,
An example are
(ii) the experiments of the experimental
small layout for
such as laboratory a completely
experiments, andrandomized design(CR)
using
(iii) four
some treatments A,B,CA,B,C
experimental andtoDD,
units are likely each repeated
be destroyed or fail3 to
times, is given below:
respond.
The data set is arranged as follows:

Treatments

1 2 ... v

...
y11 yv1
... yv 2
y21
 
y12 ... yvn v
y1n1 y2n2
y22
T1
 T2 ... Tv

 Randomized Block Design
•If a large number of treatments are to be
compared, then a large number of experimental
units are required. This will increase the variation
among the responses and CRD may not be
appropriate to use. In such a case when the
experimental material is not homogeneous and
there are v treatments to be compared, then it
may be possible to:
 Randomized Block Design Cont…
 group the experimental material into blocks of sizes
v units.
 Blocks are constructed such that the experimental
units within a block are relatively homogeneous and
resemble to each other more closely than the units in
the different blocks.If there are b such blocks, we say
that the blocks are at b levels. Similarly, if there are v
treatments, we say that the treatments are at v levels.
  The responses from the b levels of blocks and v levels of treatments can be
arranged in a two-way layout. The observed data set is arranged as follows:
Treatments (Factor B) Block totals
1 2 j v
1 11 12 … 1j … 1v B1
Blocks (Factor A)

y y y y

2 y 21 22
y … y2j … 2v
y B2
. . . . . .
. . . . . .
. . . . . .
i y i1 y i2 … y ij … y iv Bi
. . . . .
. . . . .
. . . . .
b b1
y b2
y … y bj … bv
y Bb
Treatment T1 T2 … Tj … Tv Grand total
totals (G)
 Example from Valerie J. Easton and John H. McColl's
Statistics Glossary v1.1
A researcher is carrying out a study of the effectiveness of
four different skin creams for the treatment of a certain
skin disease. He has eighty subjects and plans to divide
them into 4 treatment groups of twenty subjects each.
Using a randomized block design, the subjects are
assessed and put in blocks of four according to how
severe their skin condition is; the four most severe
cases are the first block, the next four most severe cases
are the second block, and so on to the twentieth block.
The four members of each block are then randomly
assigned, one to each of the four treatment groups.
 Plagiarism
• Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work or
ideas as your own, with or without their
consent, by incorporating it into your work
without full acknowledgement. All published
and unpublished material, whether in
manuscript, printed or electronic form, is
covered under this definition. Plagiarism may be
intentional or reckless, or unintentional. Under
the regulations for examinations, intentional or
reckless plagiarism is a disciplinary offence.
 Cont…..
1) to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of
another) as one's own
2) to use (another's production) without
crediting the source
3) to commit literary theft
4) to present as new and original an idea or
product derived from an existing source. In
other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud.
 Forms of plagiarism
1.Complete Plagiarism-Complete
plagiarism is the most severe form of
plagiarism where a researcher takes a
manuscript or study that someone else
created, and submits it under his or her
name. It is equivalent to
intellectual theft and stealing.
 2.Source-based Plagiarism
• Plagiarism may occur because of the different types
of sources. For example, when a researcher references
a source that is incorrect or does not exist, it is a
misleading citation. Plagiarism also occurs when a
researcher uses a secondary source of data or
information, but only cites the primary source of
information. Both these types lead to an increase in
the number of references sources. This, in turn,
increases the citation number of the references.
 3.Direct Plagiarism
• Direct or verbatim plagiarism occurs when an
author copies the text of another author, word for
word, without the use of quotation marks or
attribution, thus passing it as his or her own. In
that way, it is like complete plagiarism, but it
refers to sections (rather than all) of another paper.
This type of plagiarism is considered dishonest
and it calls for academic disciplinary actions.
 4. Self or Auto Plagiarism
• Auto-plagiarism, also known as self-
plagiarism or duplication, happens when an
author reuses significant portions of his or
her previously published work without
attribution. Thus, this type of plagiarism is
most likely to involve published researchers,
rather than university students. The severity
of this kind of infraction is under debate,
depending on the copied content.
 5.Paraphrasing plagiarism
• This is, as published on Wiley, the most
common type of plagiarism. It involves
the use of someone else’s writing with
some minor changes in the sentences
and using it as one’s own. Even if the
words differ, the original idea remains
the same and plagiarism occurs.
 6. Mosaic Plagiarism
• Mosaic plagiarism may be more
difficult to detect because it
interlays someone else’s phrases
or text within its own research. It
is also known as
patchwork plagiarism and it is
intentional and dishonest.
 7. Accidental Plagiarism
• Whether intended or unintended,
there is no excuse for plagiarism
and the consequences are often
the same. However, plagiarism
may be accidental if it occurred
because of neglect, mistake, or
unintentional paraphrasing.
These are some of the different types of
plagiarism that are common in the research
community. To make content completely free
from plagiarism, the writer should use
plagiarism software. There are many free
versions of an online plagiarism checker to
check plagiarism in content. To produce original
content, the writer should make his content
utterly free of any cloning from any other
published work.
THANK YOU