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Design of Engineering Experiments Part 6 - Blocking & Confounding in The 2

This document discusses blocking and confounding in 2k experimental designs. It defines blocking as a technique for dealing with controllable nuisance variables. It considers replicated and unreplicated designs, explaining that each replicate forms a block in replicated designs. For unreplicated designs, effects can be confounded with blocks. The document provides an example where the ABCD interaction is confounded with blocks. It advises that when in doubt, experiments should be blocked to control for nuisance variables and protect against data loss.

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José Carlos Chan Arias
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32 views

Design of Engineering Experiments Part 6 - Blocking & Confounding in The 2

This document discusses blocking and confounding in 2k experimental designs. It defines blocking as a technique for dealing with controllable nuisance variables. It considers replicated and unreplicated designs, explaining that each replicate forms a block in replicated designs. For unreplicated designs, effects can be confounded with blocks. The document provides an example where the ABCD interaction is confounded with blocks. It advises that when in doubt, experiments should be blocked to control for nuisance variables and protect against data loss.

Uploaded by

José Carlos Chan Arias
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Design of Engineering Experiments

Part 6 – Blocking & Confounding in the 2k

• Text reference, Chapter 7


• Blocking is a technique for dealing with
controllable nuisance variables
• Two cases are considered
– Replicated designs
– Unreplicated designs

DOX 6E Montgomery 1
Blocking a Replicated Design

• This is the same scenario discussed


previously (Chapter 5, Section 5-6)
• If there are n replicates of the design, then
each replicate is a block
• Each replicate is run in one of the blocks
(time periods, batches of raw material, etc.)
• Runs within the block are randomized

DOX 6E Montgomery 2
Blocking a Replicated Design
Consider the
example from
Section 6-2; k = 2
factors, n = 3
replicates

3
Bi2 y...2
This is the “usual” SS Blocks  
i 1 4 12
method for
calculating a block  6.50
sum of squares

DOX 6E Montgomery 3
ANOVA for the Blocked Design
Page 267

DOX 6E Montgomery 4
Confounding in Blocks

• Now consider the unreplicated case


• Clearly the previous discussion does not
apply, since there is only one replicate
• To illustrate, consider the situation of
Example 6-2, Page 228
• This is a 24, n = 1 replicate

DOX 6E Montgomery 5
Experiment from Example 6-2

Suppose only 8 runs can be made from one batch of raw material
DOX 6E Montgomery 6
The Table of + & - Signs, Example 6-4

DOX 6E Montgomery 7
ABCD is Confounded with Blocks
(Page 272)

Observations in block 1 are reduced by 20


units…this is the simulated “block effect”
DOX 6E Montgomery 8
Effect Estimates

DOX 6E Montgomery 9
The ANOVA

The ABCD interaction (or the block effect) is not


considered as part of the error term
The reset of the analysis is unchanged from Example 7-2

DOX 6E Montgomery 10
Another Illustration of the Importance of Blocking

Now the
first eight
runs (in run
order) have
filtration
rate reduced
by 20 units

DOX 6E Montgomery 11
The interpretation is
harder; not as easy to
identify the large
effects
One important
interaction is not
identified (AD)
Failing to block when
we should have causes
problems in
interpretation the
result of an
experiment and can
mask the presence of
real factor effects

DOX 6E Montgomery 12
Confounding in Blocks

• More than two blocks (page 275)


– The two-level factorial can be confounded in 2,
4, 8, … (2p, p > 1) blocks
– For four blocks, select two effects to confound,
automatically confounding a third effect
– See example, page 275
– Choice of confounding schemes non-trivial; see
Table 7-9, page 277
• Partial confounding (page 278)
DOX 6E Montgomery 13
General Advice About Blocking
• When in doubt, block
• Block out the nuisance variables you know about,
randomize as much as possible and rely on randomization
to help balance out unknown nuisance effects
• Measure the nuisance factors you know about but can’t
control (ANCOVA)
• It may be a good idea to conduct the experiment in blocks
even if there isn't an obvious nuisance factor, just to protect
against the loss of data or situations where the complete
experiment can’t be finished

DOX 6E Montgomery 14

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