ENTOM 3030 - Applied Statistics: Biological Experiments in Practice

(OPHLS-AG)

Spring (offered alternate years). 3 credits. Student option grading.

Prerequisite: introductory class in statistics.

K. Poveda.

In this course you will get hands-on experience in how to design, analyze and interpret biological experiments. This class will be particularly useful if you plan to conduct experiments in a greenhouse or field setting. You will learn to develop a scientific question, formulate biological and statistical hypotheses, derive testable predictions, design and conduct experiments, collect your own data, test the proposed hypotheses using appropriate statistical methods and finally interpret the statistical results within a broader conceptual framework. You will learn common statistical methods (chi-square tests, t-test, ANOVA, Regression) and in-class workshops will familiarize you with the software to run those statistical tests.

Outcome 1: Design and plan experiments based on scientific hypotheses.

Outcome 2: Construct a scientific question, formulate biological and statistical hypothesis, derive testable predictions, use a rigorous experimental design, and test the proposed hypotheses.

Outcome 3: Learn when and how to use different experimental designs such as paired designs, randomized blocks, Latin squares, and factorial designs among others.

Outcome 4: Understand the theory behind statistical analysis such as chi-square test, t-test, ANOVA, Regression and ANCOVA.

Outcome 5: Master running the above described analyses in R.

Outcome 6: Analyze and interpret the outcome from your own data and show a real understanding of the statistical methods.

Outcome 7: Interpret statistical results and make inferences on their biological hypotheses and original question.

Outcome 8: Effectively communicate in written and oral form statistical results in a biological context.