Blocking Design
Definition
Blocking design is an experimental design technique that groups similar subjects or items together into blocks before assigning treatments. It helps control for variables that may affect the response variable, making the experiment more precise.
Analogy
Imagine you're testing the effectiveness of different study methods on students' test scores. Instead of randomly assigning treatments to all students, you group them based on their previous academic performance (e.g., high achievers, average performers, low achievers) and then assign treatments within each group. This way, you account for potential differences between groups like blocking design does.
Related terms
Factor: In blocking design, factors are characteristics or variables that can influence the response variable. They are used to create homogeneous blocks.
Randomized Block Design: Randomized block design is an experimental design where subjects or items are grouped into blocks based on similar characteristics, and then treatments are randomly assigned within each block.
Split-Plot Design: Split-plot design is an experimental design where some factors are applied to whole plots (larger units) while others are applied to subplots (smaller units) within those plots.
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