Design and Analysis of Experiments

Course content

The purpose of the course is to introduce a general statistical approach to the design of laboratory and similar experiments and to analyse the resulting data, including statistical quality control.

The statistical and methodological content of the course is illustrated with a number of concrete and frequently used applications within designed experiments. Examples are crossover and repeated measures designs, toxicity testing, bio-equivalence analyses, simulation models and adaptive experimentation.

The following topics will be covered

  • Introduction to statistical modeling, hypothesis testing and other relevant methods within data science
  • Principles of confounding, randomization, blocking and balancing
  • Commonly used experimental plans in pharmaceutical sciences
  • Estimation of necessary sample size for experimental designs
  • Estimation, testing and interpretation of treatment effects
  • Designing experiments with many factors
  • Designing experiments with restrictions on randomization and repeated measures designs
  • Adapive experimentation including optimization using response surface methodology
  • Principles of statistical quality control
  • Principles of experimental designs for large pharmaceutical simulation models with many variables

 

The statistical models and experimental designs are analysed, designed and illustrated using the statistical software R. 

 

Education

MSc Programme in Medicinal Chemistry - elective

MSc Programme in Pharmacy (Danish programme cand.pharm) - elective

MSc Programme in Pharmaceutical Sciences (Danish programme cand.scient.pharm) - restricted elective

MSc Programme in Pharmaceutical Sciences (English programme) - restricted elective

Learning outcome

At the end of the course, students are expected to be able to:

Knowledge

  • describe principles for well-designed experiments
  • explain and report output from the statistical computer software R
  • describe principles for experimentation within simulation models

 

Skills

  • apply methods within data science using R
  • perform analysis of variance and regression analysis using R
  • identify and apply relevant statistical analysis of data from commonly used experimental designs
  • present and interpret the results obtained from a statistical model in writing and orally
  • calculate path of steepest ascent/descent using response surface methodology

 

Competences

  • design relevant experimental plans to support the lifecycle phases of a new pharmaceutical product
  • construct experimental plans taking practical restrictions into account
  • integrate measures to prevent/mitigate the types of bias often encountered during experimentation
  • assess the necessary amount of experimentation

Lectures/seminars: 33 hours
Classroom exercises: 18 hours
As an integrated part of the course the student will hand in and present an assignment The assignment consists of essay-type, practical questions asking the student to partially design an experiment and/or do a statistical analysis.

Design and Analysis of Experiments, D. C. Montgomery, 10th ed., 2019.

R-scripts available from the course page


Recorded lectures

Teaching is based on the assumption that the students have acquired knowledge, skills and competences corresponding to those obtained by completion of the first five semesters of the BSc Programme in Pharmacy.

Continuous feedback during the course of the semester
ECTS
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
On-site written exam, 4 timer under invigilation
Type of assessment details
The written examination is a two-part questionnaire. The first part consists of essay-type, practical questions asking the student to partially design an experiment and/or do a statistical analysis. The second part is a multiple-choice test with questions generally related to important issues discussed in the course.
Compared to the bachelor level examination, this exam contains more questions both in the essay part and the multiple-choice test part.
Aid
Only certain aids allowed (see description below)

In addition to the standard programs written aids and digital notes are permitted for this exam. It is allowed to upload notes for the ITX exam via digital exam. You will find a link to this feature from your exam in Digital Exam.

Find more information about written on-site exams in the exam rooms, incl. information about standard programs on the exam PCs at KUnet    Bachelor i farmaci - KUnet

 

Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Criteria for exam assessment

To achieve the grade 12 the student must be able to:

Knowledge

  • describe principles for well-designed experiments
  • explain and report output from the statistical computer software R
  • describe principles for experimentation within simulation models

 

Skills

  • apply methods within data science using R
  • perform analysis of variance and regression analysis using R
  • identify and apply relevant statistical analysis of data from commonly used experimental designs
  • present and interpret the results obtained from a statistical model
  • calculate path of steepest ascent/descent using response surface methodology

 

Competences

  • design relevant experimental plans to support the lifecycle phases of a new pharmaceutical product
  • construct experimental plans taking practical restrictions into account
  • integrate measures to prevent/mitigate the types of bias often encountered during experimentation
  • assess the necessary amount of experimentation
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Lectures
  • 33
  • Class Instruction
  • 18
  • Preparation
  • 151
  • Exam
  • 4
  • English
  • 206

Kursusinformation

Language
English
Course number
SFKKIF102U
ECTS
7,5 ECTS
Programme level
Full Degree Master
Duration

1 block

Placement
Block 3
Schedulegroup
B
Capacity
10 students
Studyboard
Study Board of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Contracting department
  • Department of Pharmacy
Contracting faculty
  • Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
Course Coordinator
  • Christian Dehlendorff   (21-6f747e757f80756d7a3a70717478717a707b7e72724c7f817a703a77813a7077)
Saved on the 26-01-2026

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