Questions tagged [research-design]
21 questions
20
votes
4 answers
Why have a placebo control group when testing a new drug if existing drugs can be used?
It is general practice to compare a new treatment against a sham treatment (placebo), and then use those results to compare efficacy of the new treatment (call it B) to an existing treatment (call it A), at least when existing treatments are…
Daniel Goldman
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12
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3 answers
How best to count bees entering and leaving a hive to measure hive activity?
This is my first question here, so I apologize for all mistakes I could have possibly made.
I'm a high school student in East-Central Europe and I need to complete some research for a biology contest (asking for advice is accepted, so I'm not…
user6774
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7
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2 answers
What safe, accessible enveloped virus should we use for beginning experiments?
I need to know which virus meets the following criteria:
It has to be enveloped.
It has to have a DNA packaging scheme similar to Adenovirus (basically, sticks most of itself together then draws in the DNA like the way a human eats a noodle).
It…
edmund shelto
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4
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0 answers
What is the effect of pesticides on worm growth?
As a new semester begins, we were asked to propose ideas for investigatory projects. Our idea revolves around the effects of pesticides on non-target organisms. Since frequent use of pesticides may potentially affect the health of the soil, we chose…
Mark Cruz
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3
votes
1 answer
BMI limits in interpretation in people with high/low heights
In a study, I measure BMI of a large sample of adult people.
Among them, there is some who have very low and very high height.
As I can read on the internet (like here or even in the wiki, for instance), BMI is not relevant for very short or very…
Dan Chaltiel
- 135
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3
votes
2 answers
Which statistical test should be used for GC-content comparison?
I'm predicting that certain genes (n=20) are more GC rich than expected in all protein-coding genes. How can I test this hypothesis efficiently?
I generated the same number of random genes (also n=20) and calculated GC content for them. After using…
Lasha Bukhnikashvili
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2
votes
1 answer
How to find idea for essay
I'm studying microbiology in Iran
The university that I'm studying in doesn't provide that much help in research areas and we don't get to research or write essays that much ,while I'm trying to write an ISI essay and communicate with universities…
niayesh sadrzadeh
- 29
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2
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2 answers
What are these strings used to describe animals?
For example, what's a $dt^{sz}$ hamster? (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1144494/).
What's a Rgs9-Cre/+;gtROSA/+ mouse? (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212877813000719)
Dissenter
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2
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Vegetation density estimation from distance method: random sampling or along the grid?
I am planning to sample the tree regeneration (new ones and advance regeneration, > 2m). I am planning to use small circular points to estimate the counts per area (= density of young trees). I wonder about the sampling design: what is better for…
maycca
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2
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How to choose which animals to study when designing evolutionary neuroscience research project
I am currently writing a reseach project for a scientific initiation and my idea would be a literature review identifying all empirical physiological and anatomical evidence for the presence and characteristics of a specific neural circuit in…
Matheus C.
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1
vote
1 answer
Why was cotton chosen to grow on the moon?
The choice of plants for the first lunar ecosystem is a bit unusual.
They are growing cotton, rapeseed and potatoes.
Why did the Chinese scientists choose them? Is it because of their ability to thrive in such an environment or because of their…
Sam
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1
vote
0 answers
Why aren't drugs tested on sick patients proactively?
I read an article about a new drug which may stop neurodegenerative activity in the brain and this triggered a question I had for some time already.
Why such novel drugs are not tested on seriously/terminally ill patients, to check whether they are…
WoJ
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1
vote
0 answers
Decoding animal language (dolphins etc)
I have this idea about how we perhaps could decode animal vocabularies that I would like to have some input on.
The idea is to design an experiment/challenge where we could predict roughly what has to be communicated between two individuals of a…
Andreas Zita
- 119
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1
vote
2 answers
Problems in optimisation with applications to biology?
I will soon have around 8 weeks to do a research project of my choosing as I am finishing my undergrad in computer science.
My experience is mostly in optimisation algorithms (mostly combinatorial/discrete optimisation).
I have an interest in…
fiftyeight
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1
vote
3 answers
How do you interpret this microbiology/ bacteriology research figure?
This is a figure from a research article that I am to do a senior presentation for. It is showing bacterial replication of an enteric bacteria population. The researchers hypothesize that the number of regions near the replication origin will be…
Bryant Keirns
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