Introduction to experimental design: can you smell fear?

Abstract

The ability to design appropriate experiments in order to interrogate a research question is an important skill for any scientist. The present article describes an interactive lecture‐based activity centred around a comparison of two contrasting approaches to investigation of the question Can you smell fear? A poorly designed experiment (a video clip from the TV series Brainiac science abuse) is considered alongside the methods used in a peer‐reviewed paper examining the same issue. The exercise is applicable both for students in their later years of secondary education and during the first year of a university‐level bioscience course.

Keywords:

• experimental design
• television
• peer‐review
• how science works

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Mark Goodwin for critical evaluation of the manuscript.