SI 860: Research Methods Course in Experimental Methods

This course is an introduction to experimental methods and some of the major subject areas that have been addressed by laboratory and field experiments. Students discuss basic principles and concrete procedures for successful experimentation: picking an interesting and important problem, creating a laboratory environment, choosing and motivating subjects, designing and conducting experiments, collecting and analyzing the data, and reporting the results. Students learn the entire process of experimental research: how to write a mini-grant proposal, how to design and conduct an original experiment, how to analyze the data, and how to write a publishable paper.