The goal of this course is providing the student with an in depth understanding of formal hypothesis testing and the general principles underlying parametric statistical methods. The student will not only learn the practical applications of the methods discussed in class but will also learn to interpret and evaluate the result of hypothesis tests carried out with any other method. The course will also serve as an introduction to experimental design. The skills obtained from this course will form the basis to learn more advances statistical methods and research techniques in the natural sciences.