How a neuroscience study is done

Before starting

No previous experience of animal research is needed. The research design pages and the glossary explain the terms used.

The answers are kept in this browser only and are not sent to GloNeuro. At the end they form a worksheet that can be saved or printed. Other pathways are listed on Learning pathways.

1. The question

Spatial learning depends on the hippocampus, and blocking NMDA-type glutamate receptors there blocks long-term potentiation, a lasting strengthening of synapses. The study asks whether a drug that blocks NMDA receptors impairs spatial learning in mice.

The question in one sentence, and the hypothesis The result that would support the hypothesis, and the result that would count against it This step is complete

2. The kind of study

An experiment assigns the treatment; an observational study only records what happens. The pages on association, correlation and causation explain why this matters.

Why an experiment suits this question, and what an observational study could and could not show This step is complete

3. The design

Use the Experiment Design Studio to draft the plan before any data exist: the independent unit, the groups and controls, random allocation, blinding, the sample size with its power calculation, the primary outcome and the rules for excluding animals.

The independent unit, the groups and the number per group, with the reasoning How allocation and blinding protect the comparison The primary outcome and the exclusion rules, fixed in advance This step is complete

4. The experiment

Carry out the water-maze guided experiment. The water-maze simulator can then be used to see how much results vary between repeats of the same study.

Notes from the experiment: the choices made and what happened This step is complete

5. The analysis

Report the estimate of the difference between the groups with its uncertainty, such as a 95% confidence interval, not a p-value alone. The probe trial tests memory for the platform’s location; a visible-platform test checks that vision, swimming and motivation are not what differs between the groups.

The result in two sentences, with its uncertainty What the visible-platform test shows, and why it matters here This step is complete

6. Reporting and replication

The ARRIVE guidelines list what a report of an animal study should include so that it can be judged and repeated. Registering the plan in advance and sharing the data and code make a study easier to check.

Three details a reader would need in order to repeat this study What an independent replication would change, and what it would keep the same This step is complete

The worksheet

The answers above form the worksheet. It can be saved as a text file in Markdown format or printed. A completed worksheet is a record of the reasoning, not a grade or a certificate.

Notes for supervisors

Suited to a course on research methods or experimental design; about three hours, with the water-maze experiment as the main practical.

Bachelor’s students can work through the steps in order. Master’s students can be asked to justify the sample size with an effect size taken from published work and to write the methods section to the ARRIVE checklist.

Discussion points: why the plan is fixed before the data exist, the animal as the unit of analysis, and what a single study can and cannot establish.