Research Methods
Method-selection guides for choosing protocols, apparatus settings, controls, and reporting fields.
Method focus
These are the checks that make the page family useful when a scientist is choosing a method, endpoint, or analysis path.
Guides in this family
Use these guides to connect the scientific question to a measurable endpoint, defensible design choice, and reporting language.
Rodent exercise training methods
Rodent exercise training methods compare acclimation, fixed-dose training, progressive endurance, interval work, incline loading, and fatigue testing by scientific question.
Ball milling sample preparation methods
Ball milling sample preparation compares planetary, mixer, attritor, vibratory, cryogenic, and mechanical-alloying mills, and dry versus wet operation, by research question, sample, and target fineness.
Actogram generation and interpretation
An actogram plots successive days of activity in stacked rows so circadian researchers can read activity onset, period, entrainment, and rhythm stability at a glance. Single-plotted shows one 24 h day per row; double-plotted shows 48 h per row and is the standard for spotting free-running drift.
Particle size reduction methods
Compare comminution method families — impact, attrition, compression, cutting/shearing, and cryogenic embrittlement — by material hardness, target size, throughput, contamination tolerance, and sample recoverability.
Periodogram analysis for circadian period detection
A periodogram decomposes an activity time series into its rhythmic components and reports the strength of each period, identifying the dominant circadian period and its power. The chi-square (Sokolove-Bushell), Lomb-Scargle, and FFT periodograms, plus cosinor fitting, are the standard tools.
Grinding media and contamination control
Choose jar and ball material to balance impact energy against contamination risk for trace-element, elemental, and molecular analysis, and document a defensible contamination-control strategy.
Cryogenic milling methods
Embrittlement milling at sub-ambient temperature for heat-sensitive, shear-sensitive, elastic, or volatile samples — polymers, biologicals, and thermolabile analytical matrices.
