Applied Computational Analysis

Catalog description

Comprehensive appraisal of designs for field, greenhouse, and growth-chamber experiments; and techniques for data collection, analysis, inference, and presentation. This course provides practical guidance in effective design, management, and interpretation of parametric experimentation by agricultural, environmental, and/or horticultural researchers. After successfully completing the course, students will be able to: define and specify appropriate experimental designs for field, greenhouse, and growth chamber research with consideration of the planned hypotheses, methodologies, and available resources; interpret/classify types of response data, describe components of experimental error and develop sampling/data collection strategies for control of error, bias, and confounding. Students will demonstrate proficiency in data organization and pre-processing for computational analysis; distinguish the required assumptions of analysis of variance (ANOVA), describe procedures to assess and resolve initially noncompliant data sets; implement software code for data analysis by experimental design; invoke appropriate mean separations, contrast statements, covariate structures, and linear estimators as necessary to optimize inference; employ software output to construct tables/figures that clearly depict sources/parameters/statistics; and construct line-, bar-, or scatter-plot graphs to describe mean response and/or significant trends/differences. The objective of Applied Computational Analysis is to expand the student's ability to conduct research through proficient experimental design, methodology, data analysis, and results inference.