Minds ExploredBy Evidence Press

Learning path

Design and evaluate a behavioural study

An eight-step route from a population and outcome to a comparison, power assumptions and an interpretable interval. The associated guide and design readings supply the experimental-design concepts that the statistics demonstrations do not cover.

For: A beginning student planning a study on paper before collecting data.

What you will work towards

  • Specify a population, outcome and target quantity.
  • Explain why paired and separate-group measurements require different comparisons.
  • State effect-size and variability assumptions behind a sample-size plan.
  • Describe the planned estimate and uncertainty without promising a positive result.
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  1. NPTEL — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning · Source-checked annotation

    Lecture 06 : Objectives, Steps and Basic Definitions

    NPTEL — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning Speaker not established foundation Duration unknown

    Begin by separating the people observed from the population the eventual claim concerns.

    Try this

    Write a target population and a feasible sample; state one limitation in moving from one to the other.

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  2. NPTEL — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning · Source-checked annotation

    Lecture 07 : Variables and Types of Data

    NPTEL — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning Speaker not established foundation Duration unknown

    Turn the question into an observation before choosing a statistic.

    Try this

    Define the primary outcome, units, time window and variable type.

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  3. NPTEL — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning · Source-checked annotation

    Motivation

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    With an outcome defined, narrow the scientific question to a quantity that a statistical comparison can address.

    Try this

    State the target difference or proportion in ordinary language and explain what it leaves unanswered.

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  4. NPTEL — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning · Source-checked annotation

    Statistics for Variance and Proportion

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    Compare possible target quantities instead of assuming every study concerns an average.

    Try this

    Explain why a mean, variability or proportion is the appropriate target for your particular question.

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  5. NPTEL — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning · Source-checked annotation

    Hypothesis testing of means

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    Now connect the comparison with the relation between observations.

    Try this

    Sketch a separate-group and a paired version; read the linked design chapter and identify a carryover issue.

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  6. NPTEL — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning · Source-checked annotation

    Power of hypothesis test

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    Choose the effect you would want a planned test to detect.

    Try this

    Name a meaningful alternative and distinguish it from the null hypothesis.

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  7. NPTEL — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning · Source-checked annotation

    Factors affecting hypothesis test

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    Stress-test the planning inputs rather than reporting one sample-size number.

    Try this

    Describe how your plan would change under greater variability or a smaller relevant effect.

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  8. NPTEL — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning · Source-checked annotation

    Confidence interval construction

    NPTEL — National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning Speaker not established intermediate Duration unknown

    Finish with the estimate you would report and the uncertainty that should accompany it.

    Try this

    Write a mock results sentence with placeholders for an effect estimate and confidence interval, then one sentence about a remaining design limitation.

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A short starting route

Steps 1, 2, 3, 5. This establishes the population, observation, target and comparison before the more mathematical planning material.

Continue more deeply

Work through the complete Introduction to Statistical Hypothesis Testing course for the probability and sampling foundations behind the later steps. Continue at source ↗

Limits of this route

The video descriptions were checked against identified official-transcript excerpts, not complete viewing. An accessible official media endpoint is not evidence that every frame played. Teaching examples are not independent validation of the underlying scientific or clinical claims. This is a paper-design exercise, not authorisation to recruit participants. Statistics lectures do not substitute for ethics review, measurement validation or subject expertise.

Sources and editorial check · 2026-11-07

All step selections checked against their individually identified transcript excerpts; supporting reading sections recorded in source receipts.

Checked by agent. This is not human peer review.

  1. Experiment Basics — Research Methods in Psychology

    Retrieved 2026-11-07. Read the What Is an Experiment, Internal Validity and External Validity sections (rendered lines 141–169); other retrieved sections were inspected separately, but historical study claims are not revalidated here.

  2. Experimental Design — Research Methods in Psychology

    Retrieved 2026-11-07. Read between-subjects design and random-assignment discussion, rendered lines 135–168. The within-subjects/carryover/counterbalancing discussion (lines 191–212) was also read in editorial-web-retrieval-1.json.

  3. Experimental Design — Within-subjects experiments and carryover

    Retrieved 2026-11-07. Read the within-subjects, practice/fatigue/context and counterbalancing sections, rendered lines 191–212. This check does not endorse the chapter’s categorical statement that all experiments must be randomised.

  4. Reliability and Validity of Measurement

    Retrieved 2026-11-07. Read reliability over time/items/raters, construct stability, validity, content, criterion, convergent and discriminant evidence, rendered lines 140–195. Universal numeric reliability thresholds and the chapter’s alpha shortcut are not adopted.

  5. Lecture 06 : Objectives, Steps and Basic Definitions

    Retrieved 2026-11-07. Selected excerpts only: segment 0 (header) first 1400 characters; segment 1 (( 2: 49) first 963 characters; segment 9 (( 18: 40) first 1400 characters; segment 16 (( 28: 30) first 1400 characters. No complete transcript reading or full video viewing claimed.

  6. Lecture 07 : Variables and Types of Data

    Retrieved 2026-11-07. Selected excerpts only: segment 0 (header) first 163 characters; segment 1 (00:19) first 555 characters; segment 13 (15:25) first 1400 characters; segment 24 (34:24) first 1352 characters. No complete transcript reading or full video viewing claimed.

  7. Motivation

    Retrieved 2026-11-07. Selected excerpts only: segment 0 (header) first 169 characters; segment 1 (00:09) first 218 characters; segment 8 (25:41) first 1400 characters; segment 14 (50:49) first 1240 characters. No complete transcript reading or full video viewing claimed.

  8. Statistics for Variance and Proportion

    Retrieved 2026-11-07. Selected excerpts only: segment 0 (header) first 658 characters; segment 1 (00:47) first 1098 characters; segment 7 (16:42) first 1400 characters; segment 13 (43:30) first 1400 characters. No complete transcript reading or full video viewing claimed.

  9. Hypothesis testing of means

    Retrieved 2026-11-07. Selected excerpts only: segment 0 (header) first 186 characters; segment 1 (00:09) first 636 characters; segment 12 (18:06) first 519 characters; segment 23 (40:14) first 1400 characters. No complete transcript reading or full video viewing claimed.

  10. Power of hypothesis test

    Retrieved 2026-11-07. Selected excerpts only: segment 0 (header) first 703 characters; segment 1 (00:52) first 1400 characters; segment 3 (09:49) first 1400 characters; segment 5 (17:23) first 1400 characters. No complete transcript reading or full video viewing claimed.

  11. Factors affecting hypothesis test

    Retrieved 2026-11-07. Selected excerpts only: segment 0 (header) first 192 characters; segment 1 (00:01) first 1400 characters; segment 6 (11:31) first 1400 characters; segment 11 (26:28) first 1400 characters. No complete transcript reading or full video viewing claimed.

  12. Confidence interval construction

    Retrieved 2026-11-07. Selected excerpts only: segment 0 (header) first 1400 characters; segment 1 (01:56) first 1065 characters; segment 5 (14:33) first 480 characters; segment 9 (29:07) first 1400 characters. No complete transcript reading or full video viewing claimed.

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