Experiment design 471
ing the objectives is extremely important for going through the whole
process of designing the experiment, pla nning it, implementing it, and
analyzing the data.
2. Choose the technology to be us ed. Make the choices between cDNA
or oligo arrays, commercial or custom ar rays, and the s pecific brand and
type of micro array if commercial arrays are to b e used. A very impor-
tant issue is to choose an array that is appropr iate for the biological
question being asked. In an e xplorator y research, in which no hypoth-
esis has been yet fo rmulated, large, comprehensive arrays may be best.
In a hypothesis-driven research, in which phenomena involving c ertain
specific gene regulatory pathways are hypothesized, more focused arr ays
may ...