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What steps can you take to ensure your experimental design is innovative and scientifically rigorous?

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Experimental design is the backbone of any scientific research project. It determines how you plan, execute, and analyze your experiments, and how you communicate your results and conclusions. A good experimental design is not only rigorous, but also innovative, meaning that it addresses a novel or important question, uses creative or original methods, and generates new or unexpected insights. In this article, you will learn what steps you can take to ensure your experimental design is innovative and scientifically rigorous, and how to avoid common pitfalls and challenges.

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Jesse White

Graduate Research Assistant | Genetics, Microbiology, Next-Generation Sequencing, Agricultural Ecosystem Analyst

1 Identify your research gap

The first step to design an innovative experiment is to identify a research gap, or a problem or question that has not been adequately answered or explored by previous studies. To do this, you need to conduct a thorough literature review, and critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of existing research. You also need to consider the relevance and significance of your research gap, and how it relates to the broader goals and challenges of your field or discipline. A clear and focused research gap will help you formulate a testable and specific hypothesis, and guide your choice of methods and variables.

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Dennis Odoi

Biomedical Scientist || Health Writer || Public Health Enthusiast || Reproductive Health Advocate || Entrepreneur || Certified Google Digital Marketer
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Identifying your research gap is a crucial step to ensure that your experimental design is both innovative and scientifically rigorous. Recognizing gaps in existing knowledge allows you to frame research questions that push boundaries and contribute to the scientific landscape. This proactive approach ensures the novelty and relevance of your experimental design, enhancing its potential impact. By addressing specific gaps, your research becomes a valuable and original contribution to the field, aligning with the principles of scientific rigor and innovation.

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2 Choose appropriate methods and tools

The next step is to choose the methods and tools that best suit your hypothesis and research gap. This may involve using established or standard techniques, or adapting or developing new ones. You should consider the validity, reliability, and feasibility of your methods and tools, and how they match your research objectives and questions. You should also think about the ethical, practical, and logistical implications of your methods and tools, and how they affect your sample size, data quality, and analysis. A good experimental design should balance innovation and rigour, and justify the use of novel or unconventional methods and tools.

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3 Control for confounding factors

A confounding factor is anything that can affect the outcome of your experiment, other than the independent variable that you are manipulating. Confounding factors can introduce bias, noise, or error into your data, and compromise the internal validity of your experiment. To control for confounding factors, you need to identify and measure them, and use appropriate strategies to minimize or eliminate their influence. These strategies may include randomization, blinding, matching, blocking, or adjusting. A good experimental design should account for all potential confounding factors, and ensure that the observed effects are due to the independent variable.

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4 Plan your data analysis

Before you start collecting data, you should plan how you will analyze it. This will help you avoid post-hoc or exploratory analysis, which can increase the risk of false positives, overfitting, or p-hacking. You should decide what statistical tests or models you will use, what assumptions they require, and what level of significance you will accept. You should also pre-register your analysis plan, or state it clearly in your protocol or proposal. This will increase the transparency and reproducibility of your experiment, and reduce the temptation or pressure to modify your analysis based on the results.

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Jesse White

Graduate Research Assistant | Genetics, Microbiology, Next-Generation Sequencing, Agricultural Ecosystem Analyst
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Planning your data analysis is one of the most neglected areas for young scientists. Not only do you need your hypothesis, but you need to develop a framework for testing it. While many new techniques involve Bootstrapping, LOESS, or other methods to normalize data for significance, Power Analysis before collecting samples can make or break your study. Power analysis allows you to determine how many samples you need to collect at a minimum to obtain significant results. This is not p-hacking. This is predicting the base requirements of your study. There is no guarantee of significance, but if you do not collect enough samples or subgroups, you will write a descriptive paper, not a scientifically significant one.

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5 Seek feedback and collaboration

The final step to design an innovative and rigorous experiment is to seek feedback and collaboration from others. This can help you improve your experimental design, identify potential flaws or gaps, and generate new ideas or perspectives. You can seek feedback and collaboration from your peers, mentors, supervisors, or reviewers, or from external experts or stakeholders. You can also use online platforms or communities to share your experimental design, and solicit comments or suggestions. A good experimental design should be open to feedback and collaboration, and incorporate constructive criticism or input.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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What steps can you take to ensure your experimental design is innovative and scientifically rigorous?

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1 Identify your research gap

2 Choose appropriate methods and tools

3 Control for confounding factors

4 Plan your data analysis

5 Seek feedback and collaboration

6 Here’s what else to consider

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