Research Methods Resources

Research Methods Resources

Back to formal analysis

Background to the Course

These Training Materials were developed to help us present a series of courses on the analysis of data from agroforestry experiments. They are published here to help others give similar training in the future.

The course is very practical, built around analysis of real data sets using appropriate statistical computing tools. Concepts are explained largely without using mathematics. Arithmetic formulae are not used as the computer software takes care of calculations. Instead, the course emphasises understanding which analyses it is sensible to use, and correct interpretation of the results. We distinguish between learning to use the statistical software (the commands to use or buttons to press) and understanding the statistical concepts, models and methods.

The course was designed to help with analysis of agroforestry experiments, and the examples given are from agroforestry trials. However both the statistical and teaching ideas can be applied to trials from agriculture, forestry and other application areas. Only one out of 17 sessions is dedicated to peculiarities of agroforestry research, and it should be easy to substitute other examples when using the materials. The material refers to both on-station and on-farm trails. We emphasise that approaches and methods for analysis depend not on where an experiment was carried out, but on its objectives, treatments, layout and measurements. The distinction between on-station and on-farm trials is not helpful. The materials were produced through a long term collaboration between the ILRI-ICRAF Research Methods Group in Nairobi, Kenya and the Statistical Services Centre (SSC) of the University of Reading, UK.

The materials are presented in four parts. They have been published as books and as a CD-rom.

Part 1 contains an overview of the course and teaching approaches, with suggestions on how the materials may be used and adapted. It also contains a summary of each of 17 teaching sessions.

Part 2 contains lecture notes, one for each of the sessions. They are presented as a separate document as they form a useful and readable resource in their own right.

Part 3 contains suggested exercises for each session. These are presented as a separate document as they are most likely to be adapted and modified to use local examples.

Part 4 contains a protocol describing each of 16 experiments, the data from which are used in examples.

Download the manuals (pdf format)

Description of the materials and summaries of course sessions (590 Kb)

Lecture note for all the sessions (1,165 Kb)

Exercises for all sessions (452 Kb)

Protocols for the example data sets (552 Kb)

Download the data files (WinZip format)

For what follows you need WinZip to be able to extract the compressed files.

Click here to install an evaluation version of WinZip 9.0 from the CD (and next click on the [Open] button and follow the instructions).

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Download the original text files (zip-files with documents in MS Word format)

You can download the original text in MS Word format. You are allowed to copy, modify and further distribute the original or modified materials to adapt for your own teaching or training purposes, as long as you acknowledge the authors. 

You are NOT allowed to sell any resulting products without permission of the authors.

If you modified the training materials and you want to share it with the rest of the world, contact r.coe*cgiar.org and we'll put them on the next version of this CDrom.

Part 4

zip-file 85 Kb

Research Methods Resources

GenStat Discovery Edition