Building Confidence in Experimental Design Through IMI Training
The two half-day training modules were tailor made for researchers in ChemEng and CBio and introduced concepts of experimental design and statistical data analysis, providing a practical framework for planning studies that are robust, reproducible and capable of answering the questions that matter. Through a mixture of lectures, discussions and hands-on exercises, participants worked through the “Ten Questions [to ask yourself] Before Running an Experiment“, and hands-on data analysis covering everything from defining research questions and identifying experimental units to addressing variability, reducing bias and analysing the data.
Feedback from the event was overwhelmingly positive. Of the 20 participants who completed the workshop evaluation, 19 described the session as either “very useful” or “somewhat useful“, while 18 reported feeling more confident about planning experiments afterwards.
The training also received a strong endorsement from participants, with 19 out of 20 saying they would recommend the workshop to a colleague. Perhaps most notably, every respondent agreed that similar training should be offered again in the future.
Researchers highlighted several aspects of the training that they found particularly valuable. Developing effective research questions emerged as the most popular topic, followed closely by understanding bias, variability and replication in experimental studies. One attendee noted:
“The best part was actually sitting down in groups and talking through the examples, it really helped me to think critically through each part of the process.”
Another participant highlighted:
“How important it is to have the experimental procedure tracked and have all the 10 questions answered beforehand.”
Feedback also suggested that attendees particularly valued learning about experimental units and how to formulate strong research questions, both key building blocks of robust experimental design.
A strong emphasis was placed on participation and collaboration. Researchers worked in small groups to critique study designs, refine research questions and discuss real-world challenges from their own research projects. These interactive elements proved particularly popular with attendees.
The workshop drew on internationally recognised best-practice resources, including the DRIVER recommendations (in vitro) and ARRIVE guidelines (animal research), helping participants to connect experimental design principles with wider efforts to improve research quality and reproducibility.
By the end of the day, attendees had developed a practical recipe for designing experiments and a clearer understanding of how good study design underpins credible research outcomes and the fundamental principles of statistical modeling. The overwhelmingly positive feedback suggests there is strong demand for further training of this kind across the research community.
If you would like to find out about this, or other types of training that IMI can offer students, researchers and the business community, please feel free to drop us an email outlining your requirements.