Randomized Block Design

BY GROUP -9

WHAT IS RANDOMIZED BLOCK DESIGN ?

In the statistical theory of the design of experiments, blocking is the arranging of experimental units in groups (blocks) that are similar to one another. Typically, a blocking factor is a source of variability that is not of primary interest to the experimenter. Nuisance factors are those that may affect the measured result, but are not of primary interest. All experiments have nuisance factors. When we can control nuisance factors, an important technique known as blocking can be used to reduce or eliminate the contribution to experimental error contributed by nuisance factors.

General rules :-

"Block what you can, randomize what you cannot."

Advantages of RBD
Generally more precise than the CRD. No restriction on the number of treatments or replicates. Some treatments may be replicated more times than others. Missing plots are easily estimated. Whole treatments or entire replicates may be deleted from the analysis.

Disadvantage of RBD
Error df is smaller than that for the CRD (problem with a small number of treatments). If there is a large variation between experimental units within a block, a large error term may result (this may be due to too many treatments). If there are missing data, a RBD experiment may be less efficient than a CRD .