What is an Experimental Design Report?
An Experimental Design Report is a summary of an experiment that a researcher has planned with the Experimental Design Assistant (EDA) online software. The report provides readers with a blueprint of a single experiment, and the minimum information required to allow for an assessment of whether it has been designed rigorously. The report can used as part of ethical review, a funding application or as part of a publication.
Find out more about the EDA visit Why use the EDA? What does it do?
For more information about experimental design visit the Experimental Design Pages of the EDA website.
The following provides clarification of the information contained in the report.
Section 1: Information inputted by the researcher
Section 1 of the Experimental Design Report compiles key information as provided by the researcher when designing their experiment in the EDA. The information in this section also covers the methodological information required to report in adherence with the ARRIVE Essential 10.
Section 2: Advice and guidance from the Experimental Design Assistant
The EDA provides tailored advice and feedback based on the information the researcher inputs.
Any EDA feedback that has not been addressed at the end of the design process is listed in table 2.1 of the report. This feedback is divided into categories:
- Things that could compromise the accuracy of the report
- Issues with internal consistency in the experiment
- Missing information
- Potential to improve the experimental plan
Where a researcher has not addressed feedback from the EDA it is important to note that this does not always undermine the design of the experiment.
Advice from the EDA suggesting an appropriate statistical analysis method is provided in table 2.2. Please note that this is not necessarily the only statistical analysis method appropriate for the experimental design presented.
