Introduction > Planning Your Research > Designing Your Experiment

Designing Your Experiment How well your research is designed will affect the reliability of your data. There are a number of reasons why it's important to get your experimental design right before you begin your research: setting up your experiment will be much easier and quicker if you've planned exactly what you need to do you can plan how best to collect your data which will reduce the time you spend not only recording but also processing and analysing your results if the basic components of experimental design (eg controls, blocking, replication) have not been taken into account, you may find that your data are invalid and any treatment effects nullified. If your University has access to statistical support, it's a good idea to have your experimental design checked before you begin your research; this will help ensure you have the appropriate design in place before you start collecting data and it will almost certainly save you time in the long run.

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