Course introduction

Lecture 0

Iain R. Moodie

BIOB11 - Experimental design and analysis for biologists

Department of Biology, Lund University

2025-03-24

Welcome to the course!

Experimental design and analysis for biologists

Course rational

  • Biology is full of interesting research questions
  • Nearly all research in biology relies on collecting and analysing data of some kind
  • Experimental design and statistical literacy is therefore important for:
    • doing your own research
    • understanding and evaluating research of other scientists

Experimental design and analysis for biologists

Course aims

  • Understand and identify good experimental design that is appropriate to answer a specific research question
  • Develop a conceptual understanding of statistics
    • Mathmatical details are not the main focus
    • Developing good statistical judgement is
  • Learn how to apply fundemental statistical tools to answer research questions.
    • Using R, a free software environment for statistical computing
  • Combine everything we have learned to design and carry out a research project

Experimental design and analysis for biologists

After completion of the course you should be able to:

  • Explain basic concepts in experimental design, data collection, and data analysis
  • Design appropriate biological experiments based on a research question
  • Handle and manipulate biological data
  • Statistically analyse and interpret biological data
  • Present statistical results graphically and in writing

Experimental design and analysis for biologists

How we are going to achieve those aims:

  • Lectures that cover key concepts
    • Focus on understanding why
  • Exercises that are just data analysis
    • Reinforce key concepts
    • Learn how to apply them
    • Using real biological data

Experimental design and analysis for biologists

How we are going to achieve those aims:

  • Writing exercise
    • Apply what you have learned to answer a research question using a dataset
  • Exam
    • Open book
  • Group project
    • Design your own research questions, collect data, analyse, present

Experimental design and analysis for biologists

Changes from previous years

  • We will use R, not SPSS to perform statistical analyses
    • Both are very powerful statistical software packages
    • A license to use SPSS costs > 1060 kr / month
    • R is free, and very widely used in biology, both in academia and industry
    • R is a programming language
  • Introduction of simulation based inference

Experimental design and analysis for biologists

What we expect from you

  • Attend as much as you can (note some parts are obligatory)
  • Tell us when something isn’t clear
  • Work together and help each other

Who are we?

Iain Moodie

Lectures, exercises and project work

  • Doctoral student in the Biodiversity & Evolution division
  • Research integrates evolutionary biology into ecotoxicology
  • Course leader

Headshot of Iain Moodie

Kaj Hulthén

Lecture: scientific integrity and ethics

  • Researcher in the Functional Ecology division
  • Researches migration in aquatic ecosystems

Headshot of Kaj Hulthén

L. Ximena Alva Caballero

Project work

  • Doctoral student in the Evolutionary Ecology & Infection Biology division
  • Researches evolutionary causes of variation in immune function
  • Will be available during your projects to answer questions

Headshot of Lucia Ximena Alva Caballero

Who are you?

Please share with at least two others:

  • Your name
  • Where you’re from
  • Are you a dog or cat person (you must choose one!)
  • What you hope to get out of this course
05:00

Course structure

Course structure

Schedule

Course structure

Topics

  • Samples, populations & descriptive statistics
  • Introduction to R
  • Data handling and plotting in R
  • The scientific method
  • Hypothesis testing and statistical inference
  • Research ethics
  • Presenting research findings

Course structure

Lectures & exercise sessions

  • For each topic:
    • 2 hours of lectures (with a break)
    • 1/2 - 1 day of exercises
  • Outside of class time:
    • Optional reading
    • Scheduled self-study time
  • Project
    • 1 full week to conduct a group research project
    • Research question is totally up to you
    • Need to design an experiment, carry it out, collect data, analyse data, and make a presentation

Course structure

Where to find information

  • Canvas
    • Announcements
    • Schedule
    • Links to materials
    • Discussion
  • Course website (Iain’s materials)
    • Will always be linked from Canvas

Course structure

How to contact me

  • Ask during the exercise sessions or at the end of lectures.
  • Outside of exercise sessions, question about course materials:
  • Questions you don’t want to share with others:
    • Email: iain.moodie@biol.lu.se
    • I will do my best to reply within 24 hours
    • If it is a question about materials, I might ask you to post it in the discussion section so it can be answered there

Course structure

Software

  • All materials will use R and the {tidyverse} packages
    • This is not a programming course
    • You do not need to mememorise R code

Course structure

Literature

Homework

If you have time before 26th March

  • Follow exercise 3 to install R and RStudio.

Questions?