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The design used when collecting data is not only the first step in
any experiment, but it is a crucial step in understanding the
inference of a given study. There are five fundamental questions you
should consider when designing an experiment or reviewing a
published experiment.
- What are the objectives of the study?
- What are the variables of interest?
- What is an expectable sampling design?
- How should the data be collected?
- How will I analyze the data?
Understanding the problem which the study is attempting to
address is the first step you should use when designing your own
experiment or reviewing a published experiment.
Example
A land
management agency wants to assess the publics perception of wildfire
use policies in order to increase the amount of wildfire use they
have. Therefore the agency must determine which aspect of wildfire
use determines a person’s perception of wildfire use.
Next, we would have to identify which variables are of interest by
reviewing the objectives of this study. Factors such as cost, and
public safety may be identified as important variables and will
therefore be used in the study. Other information such as age, sex,
location, and amount of income, etc. may also be collected. Once the
objectives and variables of interest are specified the agency would
have to decide how to collect the data. |
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