Design and Analysis of Biological Experiments

Catalog description

The purpose of this course is to learn about the statistical design & analysis of biological experiments. After learning mathematical techniques of designing experiments, and statistical analyses customized to them, students will be presented with a broad research question by the instructors. Literature surveys will be a critical part of the course to allow students to find pertinent, relevant, potentially publishable biological questions that address a specific aspect of the larger question posed by the instructors. Students will design their own experiment addressing their question, generate their own data collection plan, collect their data, and then analyze their data using statistical techniques taught in class. This course will involve field/lab work for data collection and computer work in the statistical analysis of the final data. Students will defend their question, design and analysis from both a statistical and biological perspective. At the end of the semester students will complete a formal manuscript in journal format. This course can be used to fulfill the Mathematics or Statistics minor and the Bio/MEBP elective. This course is a research based course and students must have demonstrated a strong interest in and potential for research. Also listed as MA-327 .