ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the basic issues of experimental design. Experiments—in stroke research or in other fields—are attempts to measure the effects due to the hypothesis, while controlling or eliminating the effects due to extraneous factors. Dextrorphan hydrochloride is a glutamate antagonist that is neuroprotective in experimental models of focal brain ischemia. Another factor that can play a role in rodent experiments is the time of day: Animal core temperature has a circadian rhythm, which can create a difference between morning and evening experiments. In the commonly used and intuitive complete randomization procedure, each animal is randomly assigned to one group. Permuted block randomization has several advantages. A randomized experiment is a form of study used in the testing of the efficacy of medicines, devices, or medical procedures. Experimental design involves randomization of animals or samples, replication, and control of bias by blinded design.
