Welcome to the BEDA Handbook
Introduction
Thank you for joining BIOL202 Biology Experimental Design and Analysis, known to many as BEDA (🐝-da). The ability to critically evaluate evidence is a fundamental life skill, and our aim is to help you build a strong foundation in it by helping you develop essential, hands-on skills in experimental design and analysis. We will move beyond theory and focus on the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of research:
- How do you design a robust study from the ground up?
- Why does your study’s design fundamentally shape its results?
- How do you select the right statistical tools for your specific research question?
The skills you learn will be invaluable not just in biology, but in any future career path you choose.
Importante note: We build upon foundational statistical concepts, so a basic understanding is assumed. If you need a refresher, please see: Am I ready for BEDA?
Using this handbook
This online handbook is your primary resource for BEDA. Use the sidebar to navigate through the content. We will walk you through its structure during our first week. To get started, head over to Unit Information to learn about the course structure, assessments, and what to expect.
Below is a quick schedule of the unit, where you can find links to the lectures and practicals.
Schedule
Module 1: Fundamentals
Week 01 – 4 Aug - 8 Aug
Lectures and Practicals
- L01a Tue: Guest lecture
- L01b Tue: The nature of data and numbers in biology experiments
- L01c Tue: Welcome to BEDA | PDF
- L01d Wed: (Re-) introduction to experimental design and analysis | PDF
- Practical Week 01: Getting started
Announcements and resources
Week 02 – 11 Aug - 15 Aug
Lectures and Practicals
- L02a Tue: What is a representative sample? | PDF
- L02b Wed: Modelling fundamentals – a linear model with a single, continuous \(X\) | PDF
- L02c Wed: (Almost) every statistical technique is a linear model (or, identifying response and predictors) | PDF
- Practical Week 02: Study design
Announcements and resources
Common statistical tests are linear models
Quiz 2 [0%] – opens Friday
Week 03 – 18 Aug - 22 Aug
Lectures and Practicals
- L03a Tue: Is my model appropriate? (testing assumptions) | PDF
- L03b Wed: Modelling differences between two things: A linear model with a single, categorical (and binary) \(X\) | PDF
- Practical Week 03: Data analysis
Announcements and resources
Quiz 3 [0%] – opens Friday
Early Feedback Task [5%] – opens Friday 10am
Week 04 – 25 Aug - 29 Aug
Lectures and Practicals
- L04a Tue: Modelling multiple relationships: a linear model with multiple, continuous \(X\) variables | PDF
- L04b Wed: Modelling multiple differences: a linear model with two or more categorical \(X\) variables | PDF
- L04c Wed: Model transformations – why, and how? | PDF
- Practical Week 04: Check timeline
Announcements and resources
Evaluation Quiz (10%)
More information on the Evaluation Quiz
Week 05 – 1 Sep - 5 Sep
Lectures and Practicals
- L05a Tue: Control, fixed and random variables – adding sense to models (ANCOVA and mixed models) | PDF
- L05b Wed: You’ve got this – Module 1 revision | PDF
- Practical Week 05: Check timeline
Announcements and resources
Work on your experiments
Module 2: Univariate experiments
Week 06 – 8 Sep - 12 Sep No practicals this week
Lectures and Practicals
- L06a Tue: General refresher
- L06b Wed: Is aerobic enzyme activity greater in male or female birds? Dealing with class explanatory variables No practicals
Announcements and resources
–
Week 07 – 15 Sep - 19 Sep
Lectures and Practicals
Announcements and resources
–
Week 08 – 22 Sep - 26 Sep
Lectures and Practicals
- L08a Tue: Information-theoretic methods vs. null hypothesis testing
- L08b Wed: Revision: answering your queries
- Practical Week 08: Check timeline
Announcements and resources
–
Mid-semester break
Module 3: Multivariate experiments
Week 09 – 6 Oct - 10 Oct
Lectures and Practicals
- L09a Tue: Introduction to multivariate analysis
- L09b Wed: Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Factor Analysis (FA) Practical Week 09: Week 9
Announcements and resources
Report 1 (25%)
Week 10 – 13 Oct - 17 Oct
Lectures and Practicals
- L10a Tue: Clustering
- L10b Wed: Non-metric multi-dimensional scaling (nMDS) and hypothesis testing
- Practical Week 10: Week 10
Announcements and resources
Informal presentations
Week 11 – 20 Oct - 24 Oct
Lectures and Practicals
- L11a Tue: Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA)
- L11b Wed: Multivariate Revision 1 (no slides)
- Practical Week 11: Week 11
Announcements and resources
Week 12 – 27 Oct - 31 Oct
Lectures and Practicals
- L12a Tue: Rarefaction and Bayesian analysis
- L12b Wed: Exam prep lecture (see Canvas)
- Practical Week 12: Week 12
Announcements and resources
–
Week 13 – 3 Nov - 7 Nov
Lectures and Practicals
- No Lectures this week
- Practical Week 13: Feedback, Exam and Discussions – OPTIONAL (attendance not recorded).
Announcements and resources
Please attend this weeks’ practical if you need support with Report 2. Demonstrators are not expected to answer questions on the exam during this session, although they may be able to help with general revision questions.
(Due Friday midnight this week)