UNIT-2

DESIGN 0F EXPERIMENTS
Design of experiments may be defined as the logical construction of the experiments in which
the degree of uncertainty with which the inference is drawn may be well defined.
Definitions

Experiment: An experiment is a device or a means of getting an answer to the

problem under consideration.
Experiment can be classified into two categories;
i) Absolute
ii) Comparative
i) Absolute experiment
Absolute experiments consist in determining the absolute value of
some characteristics like,
a) Obtaining average intelligence quotient (I.Q) of a group of people.
b) Finding the correlation co-efficient between two variables in a bivariate
distribution etc.
ii) Comparative experiment
Comparative experiments are designed to Compare the effect of two or more objects on some
population characteristics.
Example;
Comparison of different fertilizers.
Different kinds of verities of a crop.
Different cultivation processes etc.,
Treatments: Different objects or procedures which are to be compared in an experiment are
called treatments.
Experimental unit
The smallest division of the experimental material to which we apply the treatments and on
which we make observations on the variable under study.
Example
In field experiments the plot of land is the experimental unit. In other experiments, unit may
be a patient in a hospital, a lump of dough or a batch of seeds.
Blocks
In agricultural experiments, most of the times we divide the whole experimental unit (field)
into relatively homogeneous sub groups or strata. These strata which are more uniform amongst
themselves than the field as a whole are known as blocks.
Yield
The measurement of the variable under study on different experimental units are termed as
yields.
Experimental error
Let us suppose that a large homogeneous field is divided into different plots (of equal shape
and size) and different treatments are applied to these plots. If the yields from some of the
treatments are more than those of others, the experimenter is faced with the problem of deciding
if the observed differences are really due to treatment effects or they are due to chance
(uncontrolled) factors. In field experimentation, it is a common experience that the fertility
gradient of the soil does not follow any systematic pattern but behaves in an erratic fashion.
Experience tells us that even if the same treatment is used in all the plots, the yields would still
vary due to the differences in soil fertility. Such variation from plot to plot, which is due to
random factors beyond human control, is spoken of as experimental error.
Precision
Precision refers to the ability to obtain reliable and repeatable estimates of the effects being
studied while minimizing variable and uncertainty.
The reciprocal of the variance of the mean is termed as the precision. Thus for an experiment
replicated r times is given by

Efficiency

If 𝐸 > 1 , then precision of 𝐷1 > 𝐷2 .

If 𝐸 < 1 , then precision of 𝐷1 < 𝐷2 .
If 𝐸 = 1 , then precision of 𝐷1 = 𝐷2 .
Uniformity Trials
The fertility of the soil does not increase or decrease uniformity in any direction but is
distributed over the entire field in an erratic manner. Uniformity trials enable us to have an idea
about the fertility variation of the field. By uniformity trial, we mean a trial in which the field
(experimental material) is divided into small units (plots) and the same treatment is applied on
each of the units and their yields are recorded.
Basic Principles of Experimental Designs
The purpose of designing an experiment is to increase the precision of the experiment. In
order to increase the precision, we try to reduce the experimental error. For reducing the
experimental error, we adopt certain techniques. These techniques form the basic principles
of experimental designs. The basic principles of the experimental designs are replication,
randomization and local control. The principles of experimental design;
1) Replication
2) Randomization
3) Local control
1) Replication: Replication means the repetition of the treatments under investigation. An
experimenter resorts to replication in order to average out the influence of the chance factors
on different experimental units. Thus, the repetition of treatment results is more reliable
estimate than is possible with a single observation
Advantages of replication
1. Replication serves to reduce experimental error and thus enables us to obtain
more precise estimates of the treatment effects.
2. From statistical theory we know that the standard Error (S.E) of the mean of a
sample size n is 𝜎⁄ , where σ is the standard deviation of the population.
√𝑛
Thus if a treatment is replicated 𝑟 times, then the S.E of its mean effect is 𝜎⁄ , where σ² is
√𝑟
the variance of the individual plot is estimated from error variance.
2. Randomization: By randomization we mean that both the allocation of experimental
material and order in which the individual runs of trials of experiments are performed randomly
determined. Randomization is necessary for statistical analysis of data. Statistical methods
require that observations are independently distributed and randomization makes this
assumption valid.
Randomization also consists in averaging out the effects of extra factors. It ensures that
different treatments are subject to equal environmental effects.
3. Local Control: We know that the estimate of experimental error is based on the variations
from experimental unit to experimental unit. In other words, the error in an experiment is a
measure of “within block” variation. This suggests that if we group the homogeneous
experimental units into blocks, the experimental error will be reduced considerably. If the
experimental material, say field for agriculture experimentation is heterogeneous and different
treatment are allocated to various units at random over the entire field the soil heterogeneous
will also enter the uncontrolled factors and thus increase the experimented error. It is desirable
to reduce the experimental error as for as practicable without unduly increasing the number of
replications, so that even smaller difference between treatments can be detected as significant.
The process of reducing the experimental error by dividing relatively heterogeneous
experimental area (field) into homogeneous blocks is known as local control.
Completely Randomised Design
The simples and most flexible design is the completely randomised design. In this design the
experimental units are allotted at random to the treatments, so that every unit gets the same
chance of receiving every treatment. Let us suppose that we have 𝑣 treatments, the ith
treatment being replicated 𝑟𝑖 time, 𝑖 = 1, 2, … , 𝑣. Then the whole experimental material is
divided into 𝑛 = ∑ 𝑟𝑖 experimental units and the treatments are distributed completely at
random. In particular case, If 𝑟𝑖 = 𝑟 for all 𝑖 = 1, 2, … , 𝑣, i.e., each treatment is repeated an
equal number of time 𝑟, 𝑛 = 𝑟𝑣 and randomisation gives every group of 𝑟 units an equal
chance of receiving the treatments.
Advantages of CRD
i) It is easy to layout the design.
ii) It results in the maximum use of the experimental units since all the experimental materials
can be used.
iii) It allows complete flexibility as any number of treatments and replicates may be used. The
number of replicates, if desired, can be varied from treatment to treatment.
iv) The statistical analysis is easy even if the number of replicates are not the same for all
treatments
v) It provides the maximum number of degrees of freedom for the estimation of the error
variance, which increases the sensitivity or the precision of the experiment for small
experiments.
Disadvantages of CRD
i) In certain circumstances, the design suffers from the disadvantage of being inherently less
informative than other more sophisticated layouts. This usually happens if the experimental
material is not homogeneous.
ii) Since randomisation is not restricted in any direction to ensure that the units receiving one
treatment are similar to those of receiving other treatment, the whole variations among the
experimental units is included in the residual variance. This makes the design less efficient
and results in less sensitivity in detecting significant effects.