Biology 604 -- Design and Analysis of Ecological Experiments -- Fall 2015
Dr. Stephen Threlkeld, Professor of Biology; 318 Shoemaker; (662) 915-5803; stt@olemiss.edu; Office hours: W 2-4 pm, Th 8-9 am, 2-4 pm, or by appointment.
Catalog Description of Course Objectives
Design of ecological experiments;
replication, blocking and
treatment
structures; analysis of designed experiments; procedures for data sets with missing observations or
incompletely executed designs.
Recommended text
Montgomery, D.C. 1996. Design and Analysis of Experiments. 4th edition. John Wiley & Sons,
New York. 704
pp.
Jan 20: History of experimental design, definitions, concepts in experimental design, research questions, response variables, effect size, practical and statistical significance, risks of type I and II errors, sample size, design efficiency, treatment and blocking structure
Jan 27: Developing the context for a new experiment, mining the literature, published and unpublished data sets
Feb 3: Determining experimental design and replication when using qualitative treatments or response variables
Feb 10: Determining experimental design and replication when using quantitative response variables, regression designs with models of full rank, models of less than full rank
Feb 17: Two factor designs, chosing levels and placement, interpreting interactions
Feb 24: Three (or more) factor designs, chosing levels and placement, interpreting interactions, using models of less than full rank, and other decisions that affect your experimental budget
Mar 3: Fractional factorial designs, the importance of design resolution
Mar 10: Lack of fit and other design modifications that affect resolution and efficiency
Mar 17: Class will not meet Mar 12 because of Spring Break
Mar 24 Mixtures, mixture-amount, and mixture-process designs
Mar 31: Sources of error in the conduct of experiments and consideration of restrictions on complete randomization designs
Mar 26: Class will not meet on Mar 26 because of Good Friday Holiday.
Apr 7: Blocking in regression and factorial designs
Apr 13: Split-plot, nested, and repeated measures, Greenhouse-Geisser and Huynh-Feldt conditions
Apr 21: Sequence and crossover designs, BACI and RIA designs; Sampling and measurement effort, covariance analyses, multivariate approaches in experimental designs
Apr 28: Research planning, sequences of experiments and maintenance of balance and efficiency in experimental programs
Course Grading
Take home writing assignments (30%), take home midterm exam (30%), and a final examination (40%)