Agricultural Experimentation
BIOMET 3000WT
Semester 1

Faculty of Sciences

Subject Co-ordinator: Trevor Hancock

Co-ordinating Department: BiometricsSA

Timetable: Please visit The University of Adelaide Online Timetable

Aim of subject

To extend the students' knowledge of biometrical methods beyond that gained in Biometry (formally 7931 now BIOMET 2000WT), so that students are able to design and analyse a range of agricultural, biological, or environmental experiments of different types and purposes.

To consolidate understanding of the rationale of scientific experimentation and the place therein of statistical inference.

Content

The course deals with the design and analysis of experiments. The statistical package GenStat for Windows, is used extensively throughout the course. The topics covered include:

• Revision of topics covered in Biometry
  • Completely Randomized Design
  • Randomized Complete Block Design
  • Simple, Polynomial and Multiple Regression
  • Non-Parametric Statistics
  • Factorial Designs
  • Split Plot Designs
• Latin Squares and Graeco-Latin Squares;
• Analysis of Covariance;
• Review of design - Randomization of treatments;
• Multiple Comparisons, Simultaneous Confidence Intervals, Linear Comparisons and Orthogonal Polynomials;
• Distinct regression lines versus parallel regression lines;
• Transformations;
• Analysis of categorical data - Fisher's Exact Test;
• Generalized Linear Models - Poisson & binomial error structures;
• Probit Analysis;
• Depending on time available some other topics may be covered;

Throughout the course a selection of research projects will be discussed to illustrate important steps involved, i.e. aim, design, collection and analysis and interpretation of data.

Text Books

There is no set text book.

Reference Books

• Cochran, W.G. and Cox, G.M.(1957) Experimental Designs. (Wiley)
• Colquhoun, D.(1971) Lectures in biostatistics. (Clarendon)
• Cox, D.R.(1958) Planning of Experiments. (Wiley)
• Draper, N.R. and Smith, H.(1998) Applied Regression Analysis (3rd Ed.). (Wiley)
• Johnson, N.L. and Leone, F.(1977) Statistics and Experimental Design in Engineering and the Physical Sciences, Volume II (Wiley)
• Lane, P.W. and Payne, R.W.(1998) GENSTAT for WINDOWS: an Introductory Course (4th Ed). (Lawes Agricultural Trust - Rothamsted Experimental Station)
• McConway, K.J., Jones, M.C. and Taylor, P.C.(1999) Statistical Modelling using GENSTAT. (Arnold)
• Mead, R. and Curnow, R.C.(1983) Statistical methods in agriculture and experimental biology. (Chapman and Hall)
• Snedecor, G.W. and Cochran, W.G.(1989) Statistical Methods(8th Ed.) (The Iowa State University Press).
• Sokal, R.R. and Rohlf, F.J.(1995) Biometry (3rd Ed). (W.H. Freeman & Company)
• Steel, R.G.D. and Torrie, J.H.(1960) Principles and Procedures of Statistics. (McGraw-Hill).

Pre-requisite Course

As the Level II course Biometry (BIOMET 2000WT) is the pre-requisite course for Agricultural Experimentation only students who have successfully passed the former course can enrol in Agricultural Experimentation (BIOMET 3000WT). (Note a Conceded Pass (CP) does not satisfy this pre-requisite requirement.)

Assessment

The assessment in this subject is as follows:

• Tutorial Exercises: 10%
• Individual Assignment: 30%
• Final Exam: 60%

Tutorial Exercises will be marked and, in total, will constitute 10% of the assessment for this course. Exercises will be handed out weekly for the Monday tutorial and must be placed, in the location provided in the Undergraduate Teaching Wing, before 9:10am on the following Monday. (Use of plastic envelopes will keep together the material submitted). Exercises handed in after the due time will not be marked. Students unable to complete the weekly exercise due to medical or compassionate reasons must contact the Course Co-ordinator, as soon as is practicable, with written details including a medical certificate if appropriate.

Students are expected to work on the exercises during the tutorial period. Any student who does not attend at least 75% of the tutorials and submit at least 75% of the exercises may be precluded from the examination in June.

The Individual Assignment,which forms a further 30% of the assessment, will involve the design, collection (or generation of data), and analysis of results for an experiment of the individual student's choice. The final written report including Genstat analysis is due by 5:00pm on Friday the 30th of May, 2003.

( Students repeating the course will not be exempted from the Tutorial Exercise or the Individual Assignment. That is, the completion of each Tutorial Exercise and the Individual Assignment is an integral part of learning to correctly apply the material presented in the lectures and therefore must be repeated if the student has failed the course at the previous attempt. )

All work covered in the course will be examined in June and this Final Examination will constitute the other 60% of the final assessment. This Final Exam is an "Open Book" exam which means you can (in addition to pens, pencils, rulers, calculators etc) take your Lecture Notes, Hand-outs, and tables into the exam room. However you MUST NOT TAKE into the exam the Tutorial Exercises and Solutions handed out during the semester or your solutions to those weekly tutorials or your solutions to previous Exam Papers.

The students overall performance will be recorded as a scaled mark out of 100 and results summarized using the following grading scheme:

• Higher Distinction - 85% or greater
• Distinction - 75% to 84%
• Credit - 65% to 74%
• Pass - 50% to 64%
• Conceded Pass - 45% to 49%
• Fail - less than 45%

Students can arrange with the Course Co-ordinator to review their Examination Paper. Any unresolved discussion concerning the assessment will be referred to the examiner's committee for this course.

• Special Needs: Students with special needs are requested to inform the Course Co-ordinator, during the first week of the semester, so that appropriate arrangements are expedited.
• General Rules and Plagiarism: For general rules and procedures see the "Student Guide and Timetable" and give particular attention to the item on plagiarism. Copying of another student or author's work without proper acknowledgement is not accepted in this course.

Examination Information

The date, time and location of the Final Examination will be posted in the Foyer of the Undergraduate Teaching Wing at the Waite Institute. Students are required to check these for themselves.

For past Examination Papers visit http://www.library.adelaide.edu.au/eres/Biometry/

Supplementary Examination Policy

Revised procedures for Supplementary Assessment were approved by Academic Board on 28 July 1999. Accordingly Faculty Board at its meeting on 21 February 2000 approved the procedures below for adoption in all subjects taught by departments of the Faculty.

1. The offer of supplementary assessment is solely at the discretion of the examiner(s) and Head of the relevant department. No student is automatically entitled to supplementary assessment and the University is under no compulsion to offer supplementary assessment in any form.
2. For each subject a committee of the examiner(s) and the Head of Department (or nominee) will consider the final results. The ultimate decision lies with the Head of Department.
3. Where a student has not met the requirements to pass a subject, any form of supplementary assessment (including an exam) can be used which is judged to be fair and equitable for the student and subject concerned.
4. If a student applies for supplementary assessment based on medical or compassionate grounds the Examiners Committee will consider the student's overall performance in the subject. If justified, an appropriate adjustment will be made to the final mark or some supplementary assessment set.

Top