Basic Concepts 
This section discusses the basic concepts of experimental design, data collection, and data 
analysis. The following steps summarize the many decisions that need to be made at each 
stage of the planning process for the experiment. These steps are not independent, and it 
might be necessary to revise some earlier decisions that were made. A brief explanation of 
each step, which will help clarify the decisions that should be made during each stage, is given 
in the section that follows this list. 

Designing an Experiment 
Perform the following steps when designing an experiment: 
1. Define the problem and the questions to be addressed. 
2. Define the population of interest. 
3. Determine the need for sampling. 
4. Define the experimental design.