Question

In a Balanced Incomplete Block Design (BIBD), each treatment occurs the same number of times. What else, with regards to the blocks, occurs the same number of times?

1) The number of blocks is the same for all treatments
2) The number of blocks is different for each treatment
3) The number of blocks is equal to the number of treatments
4) The number of blocks is equal to the number of treatments minus one

Answer 1

In a Balanced Incomplete Block Design, each treatment not only occurs the same number of times, but each pair of treatments also appears together in the same number of blocks.

Step-by-step explanation:

In a Balanced Incomplete Block Design (BIBD), it is not only required that each treatment occurs the same number of times but also that each pair of treatments occurs together in the same number of blocks. To answer the student's question, in a BIBD:

1. The number of blocks is the same for all treatments.

Each treatment appears in a fixed number of blocks, and every pair of treatments appears together in the same number of blocks. The design ensures that the comparisons between treatments are valid and that all treatments are equally represented.