1.

Write a note on experimental design

Principles of Experimental Designs

Professor Fisher has enumerated three principles of experimental designs:

1. The principle of replication: The experiment should be reaped more than once.
Thus, each treatment is applied in many experimental units instead of one. By doing
so, the statistical accuracy of the experiments is increased. For example, suppose we
are to examine the effect of two varieties of rice. For this purpose we may divide the
field into two parts and grow one variety in one part and the other variety in the other
part. We can compare the yield of the two parts and draw conclusion on that basis.
But if we are to apply the principle of replication to this experiment, then we first
divide the field into several parts, grow one variety in half of these parts and the other
variety in the remaining parts. We can collect the data yield of the two varieties and
draw conclusion by comparing the same. The result so obtained will be more reliable
in comparison to the conclusion we draw without applying the principle of
replication. The entire experiment can even be repeated several times for better
results. Consequently replication does not present any difficulty, but computationally
it does. However, it should be remembered that replication is introduced in order to
increase the precision of a study; that is to say, to increase the accuracy with which
the main effects and interactions can be estimated.

2. The principle of randomization: It provides protection, when we conduct an

experiment, against the effect of extraneous factors by randomization. In other words,
this principle indicates that we should design or plan the ‘experiment in such a way
that the variations caused by extraneous factors can all be combined under the general
heading of “chance”. For instance if we grow one variety of rice say in the first half
of the parts of a field and the other variety is grown in the other half, then it is just
possible that the soil fertility may be different in the first half in comparison to the
other half. If this is so, our results would not be realistic. In such a situation, we may
assign the variety of rice to be grown in different parts of the field on the basis of
some random sampling technique i.e., we may apply randomization principle and
protect ourselves against the effects of extraneous factors. As such, through the
application of the principle of randomization, we can have a better estimate of the
experimental error.

3. Principle of local control: It is another important principle of experimental

designs. Under it the extraneous factors, the known source of variability, is made to
vary deliberately over as wide a range as necessary and this needs to be done in such
a way that the variability it causes can be measured and hence eliminated from the
experimental error. This means that we should plan the experiment in a manner that
we can perform a two-way analysis of variance, in which the total variability of the
data is divided into three components attributed to treatments, the extraneous factor
 and experimental error. In other words, according to the principle of local control, we
first divide the field into several homogeneous parts, known as blocks, and then each
such block is divided into parts equal to the number of treatments. Then the
treatments are randomly assigned to these parts of a block. In general, blocks are the
levels at which we hold an extraneous factors fixed, so that we can measure its
contribution to the variability of the data by means of a two-way analysis of variance.
In brief, through the principle of local control we can eliminate the variability due to
extraneous factors from the experimental error.

Important Experimental Designs

Experimental design refers to the framework or structure of an experiment and as such

there are several experimental designs. We can classify experimental designs into two
broad categories, viz., informal experimental designs and formal experimental designs.
Informal experimental designs are those designs that normally use a less sophisticated
form of analysis based on differences in magnitudes, where as formal experimental
designs offer relatively more control and use precise statistical procedures for analysis.

Informal experimental designs:

• Before and after without control design: In such a design, single test group or area
is selected and the dependent variable is measured before the introduction of the
treatment. The treatment is then introduced and the dependent variable is
measured again after the treatment has been introduced. The effect of the
treatment would be equal to the level of the phenomenon after the treatment
minus the level of the phenomenon before the treatment.
• After only with control design: In this design, two groups or areas (test and
control area) are selected and the treatment is introduced into the test area only.
The dependent variable is then measured in both the areas at the same time.
Treatment impact is assessed by subtracting the value of the dependent variable in
the control area from its value in the test area.
• Before and after with control design: In this design two areas are selected and the
dependent variable is measured in both the areas for an identical time-period
before the treatment. The treatment is then introduced into the test area only, and
the dependent variable is measured in both for an identical time-period after the
introduction of the treatment. The treatment effect is determined by subtracting
the change in the dependent variable in the control area from the change in the
dependent variable in test area.

Formal Experimental Designs

1. Completely randomized design (CR design): It involves only two principle viz.,
the principle of replication and randomization. It is generally used when
experimental areas happen to be homogenous. Technically, when all the
variations due to uncontrolled extraneous factors are included under the heading
of chance variation, we refer to the design of experiment as C R Design.
2. Randomized block design (RB design): It is an improvement over the C
Research design. In the RB design the principle of local control can be applied
along with the other two principles.
3. Latin square design (LS design): It is used in agricultural research. The
treatments in a LS design are so allocated among the plots that no treatment
occurs more than once in any row or column.
4. Factorial design: It is used in experiments where the effects of varying more than
one factor are to be determined. They are especially important in several
economic and social phenomena where usually a large number of factors affect a
particular problem.
 2. Elaborate the ways of making a case study effective.

Making Case Study Effective

Let us discuss the criteria for evaluating the adequacy of the case history or life history
which is of central importance for case study. John Dollard has proposed seven criteria
for evaluating such adequacy as follows:

i) The subject must be viewed as a specimen in a cultural series. That is, the case drawn
out from its total context for the purposes of study must be considered a member of the
particular cultural group or community. The scrutiny of the life histories of persons must
be done with a view to identify thee community values, standards and their shared way of
life.

ii) The organic motto of action must be socially relevant. That is, the action of the
individual cases must be viewed as a series of reactions to social stimuli or situation. In
other words, the social meaning of behaviour must be taken into consideration.

iii) The strategic role of the family group in transmitting the culture must be recognized.
That is, in case of an individual being the member of a family, the role of family in
shaping his behaviour must never be overlooked.

iv) The specific method of elaboration of organic material onto social behaviour must be
clearly shown. That is case histories that portray in detail how basically a biological
organism, the man, gradually blossoms forth into a social person, are especially fruitful.

v) The continuous related character of experience for childhood through adulthood must
be stressed. In other words, the life history must be a configuration depicting the inter-
relationships between thee person’s various experiences.

vi) Social situation must be carefully and continuously specified as a factor. One of the
important criteria for the life history is that a person’s life must be shown as unfolding
itself in the context of and partly owing to specific social situations.

vii) The life history material itself must be organised according to some conceptual
framework, this in turn would facilitate generalizations at a higher level.
 3. What is non probability sampling? Explain its types with examples.

Non-probability or Non Random Sampling

Non-probability sampling or non-random sampling is not based on the theory of

probability. This sampling does not provide a chance of selection to each population
element.

Advantages: The only merits of this type of sampling are simplicity, convenience and
low cost.

Disadvantages: The demerits are it does not ensure a selection chance to each population
unit. The selection probability sample may not be a representative one. The selection
probability is unknown. It suffers from sampling bias which will distort results.

The reasons for usage of this sampling are when there is no other feasible alternative due
to non-availability of a list of population, when the study does not aim at generalizing the
findings to the population, when the costs required for probability sampling may be too
large, when probability sampling required more time, but the time constraints and the
time limit for completing the study do not permit it. It may be classified into:

Convenience or Accidental Sampling

It means selecting sample units in a just ‘hit and miss’ fashion E.g., interviewing people
whom we happen to meet. This sampling also means selecting whatever sampling units
are conveniently available, e.g., a teacher may select students in his class. This method is
also known as accidental sampling because the respondents whom the researcher meets
accidentally are included in the sample.

Suitability: Though this type of sampling has no status, it may be used for simple
purposes such as testing ideas or gaining ideas or rough impression about a subject of
interest.

Advantage: It is the cheapest and simplest, it does not require a list of population and it
does not require any statistical expertise.

Disadvantage: The disadvantage is that it is highly biased because of researcher’s

subjectivity, it is the least reliable sampling method and the findings cannot be
generalized.
Purposive (or judgment) sampling

This method means deliberate selection of sample units that conform to some pre-
determined criteria. This is also known as judgment sampling. This involves selection of
cases which we judge as the most appropriate ones for the given study. It is based on the
judgement of the researcher or some expert. It does not aim at securing a cross section of
a population. The chance that a particular case be selected for the sample depends on the
subjective judgement of the researcher.

Suitability: This is used when what is important is the typicality and specific relevance
of the sampling units to the study and not their overall representativeness to the
population.

Advantage: It is less costly and more convenient and guarantees inclusion of relevant
elements in the sample.

Disadvantage: It is less efficient for generalizing, does not ensure the representativeness,
requires more prior extensive information and does not lend itself for using inferential
statistics.

Quota sampling

This is a form of convenient sampling involving selection of quota groups of accessible

sampling units by traits such as sex, age, social class, etc. it is a method of stratified
sampling in which the selection within strata is non-random. It is this Non-random
element that constitutes its greatest weakness.

Suitability: It is used in studies like marketing surveys, opinion polls, and readership
surveys which do not aim at precision, but to get quickly some crude results.

Advantage: It is less costly, takes less time, non need for a list of population, and field
work can easily be organized.

Disadvantage: It is impossible to estimate sampling error, strict control if field work is

difficult, and subject to a higher degree of classification.
Snow-ball sampling

This is the colourful name for a technique of Building up a list or a sample of a special
population by using an initial set of its members as informants. This sampling technique
may also be used in socio-metric studies.

Suitability: It is very useful in studying social groups, informal groups in a formal

organization, and diffusion of information among professional of various kinds.

Advantage: It is useful for smaller populations for which no frames are readily available.

Disadvantage: The disadvantage is that it does not allow the use of probability statistical
methods. It is difficult to apply when the population is large. It does not ensure the
inclusion of all the elements in the list.