Allocation
If there are more than one group, the allocation node is used to describe how the groups were formed. The node's properties contain information about the randomisation strategy.
More information about the allocation node can be found here.
Typically, a group of animals is allocated into smaller groups, and the allocation node can be added to the diagram by clicking on the allocation icon in the group node's menu, circled in red in the image below. If the pool group is subjected to interventions or measurements before the animals are allocated to smaller groups, the allocation node can be added from an invervention or measurement node's menu.
Alternatively, an allocation node can be dragged and dropped from the palette onto the canvas. The node will have red boundaries until it is connected to another node.
Properties of the allocation node
| Label | Name of the allocation node (text to be displayed on the node) |
| Description | Free text field where further information can be added if relevant |
| Randomisation strategy | Indicate what strategy will be used to randomise the animals into treatment groups. Choose from the dropdown menu, select 'other' if none of the options are suitable, or if the animals are allocated into treatment groups via a method other than randomisation (e.g. haphazard or alternate), indicate so in the free text box below |
| Randomisation strategy if other | If the randomisation strategy is not listed above, provide information here |
| What is randomised | Indicate what is randomised in the allocation, e.g. whether the allocation is used to randomise the animals into different treatment groups, or whether each animal receives multiple treatments and it is the order of the treatments which is randomised |
| Randomisation procedure | Choose from the dropdown menu the procedure which will be used to generate the randomisation sequence. Options include EDA spreadsheet, computer generated, numbers drawn out of a hat, Latin square, flipping a coin, randomisation table. If none are suitable, select 'other' and indicate in the free text box below what procedure will be used. |
| Randomisation procedure if other | If the randomisation procedure is not listed above, provide information here |
| Blind allocation | Indicate the blinding status at the time animals are allocated into groups. Note that this only concerns the allocation stage, blinding during the assessment of the results and during the data analysis should be indicated in the properties of the measurement and analysis nodes, respectively. Choose from the dropdowm menu to indicate how the investigator will be blinded to the group allocation during the intervention or whether they will be aware of the group allocation. For further information about blinding, click here |
| Reason for not blinding | If it is not possible to be blinded to the group allocation during the intervention, explain why |
| Additional information | Any relevant additional information |
Items in red are crucial for the internal validity of an experiment and are compulsory fields.