Statistics and experimental design

The statistics and the experimental design course are both one day continuing education courses which need a separate registration. They will both be offered two times, once in November and once in December

Statistics for animal experimentation

(Speaker: Dr Frédéric Schütz)

This course introduces participants to the statistical concepts useful in animal experimentation, with an emphasis on the sections of "Form A" which require statistics.

Topics includes:

• an introduction to experimental design,
• the concept of hypothesis testing, p-values,
• common misunderstandings,
• sample size,
• some examples of statistical tests,
• frequent design questions about animal experiments.

It will end with a discussion of several examples of Form A as they were submitted by researchers.

Experimental design

(Speaker: Dr Frédéric Schütz)

The design of an experiment is a crucial step in science: the researchers need to make sure that the experiment will give useful and unbiased results, while at the same time satisfying ethical constraints, such as limiting the number of animals used.

This course will discuss the importance of experimental design and will introduce the participants to its principles.

Topics include important concepts such as:

• randomization,
• blocking,
• the choice of experimental unit,
• factorial design.

The course includes practical exercises, but does not require a computer.