Playback experiments: design and analysis

Abstract 

The scientific value of the outcome of an experiment is closely related to its design and analysis. This article deals with the design issues of pseudoreplication (whether the experimental design has the statistical features needed to answer the question as posed) and execution errors (problems arising from how the experiment was conducted). Three issues of analysis are also dealt with: the number and type of response measures to record; how measures should, and should not, be combined into a single response measure; and how to interpret an apparent lack of response. Interactive playback is considered separately because it raises its own specific design and analysis issues. Although the examples generally refer to video playback, these issues are common to all experiments in behaviour.