Design of experiments includes the design of all information-gathering exercises where variation is present, whether under the full control of the experimenter or not. (The latter situation is usually called an
observational study.) Often the experimenter is interested in the effect of some process or intervention (the 'treatment') on some objects (the 'experimental units'), which may be people. Design of experiments is thus a discipline that has very broad application across all the natural and social sciences.
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