Using orthogonal array for constructing three-level search designs

We consider the problem of constructing search designs for 3^m factorial designs. By using projection properties of some three-level orthogonal arrays, some search designs are obtained for 3 ? m ? 11. The new obtained orthogonal search designs are capable of searching and identifying up to four two-factor interactions and estimating them along with the general mean and main effects. The resulted designs have very high searching probabilities; it means that besides the well-known orthogonal structure, they have high ability in searching the true effects.     

Statistical properties of Rechtschaffner designs

Rechtschaffner designs are saturated designs of resolution V   in which main effects and two-factor interactions are estimable if three-factor and higher order interactions are negligible. Statistical properties of Rechtschaffner designs are studied in this paper. Best linear unbiased estimators of main effects and two-factor interactions are given explicitly and asymptotic properties of correlations between these estimators are studied as well. It is shown that designs recommended by Rechtschaffner [1967. Saturated fractions of 2ⁿ$2^n$ and 3ⁿ$3^n$ factorial designs, Technometrics 9, 569–576] are not only A-optimal but also D-optimal. Comparisons of Rechtschaffner designs with other A- and D-optimal designs of resolution V are also discussed.     

2n−m designs with resolution III or IV containing clear two-factor interactions

For a fixed number of runs, not all 2^n−m designs with resolution III or IV have clear two-factor interactions. Therefore, it is highly desirable to know when resolution III or IV designs can have clear two-factor interactions. In this paper, we provide a unified geometrical study of this problem and give a complete classification of the existence of clear two-factor interactions in regular 2^n−m designs with resolution III or IV and reveal the structures of these designs.     

On the use of partial confounding for the construction of alternative regular two-level blocked fractional factorial designs

In this paper, we consider experimental situations in which a regular fractional factorial design is to be used to study the effects of m two-level factors using n=2^m−k experimental units arranged in 2^p blocks of size 2^m−k−p. In such situations, two-factor interactions are often confounded with blocks and complete information is lost on these two-factor interactions. Here we consider the use of the foldover technique in conjunction with combining designs having different blocking schemes to produce alternative partially confounded blocked fractional factorial designs that have more estimable two-factor interactions or a higher estimation capacity or both than their traditional counterparts.     

New light on fractional 2m factorial designs

New fractional 2^m factorial designs obtained by assigning factors to fractions of m columns of new saturated two symbol orthogonal arrays which are not isomorphic to the usual ones are proposed. Contrary to the usual assignment, examples show that some main effects are not totally but partially confounded with several two-factor interactions. Moreover, the recovery of the former from such partial confounding is possible in some cases by eliminating the latter.     

Weakly resolvable IV.3 search designs for the pn factorial experiment

A series of weakly resolvable search designs for the pⁿ factorial experiment is given for which the mean and all main effects are estimable in the presence of any number of two-factor interactions and for which any combination of three or fewer pairs of factors that interact may be detected. The designs have N = p(p–1)n+p runs except in one case where additional runs are required for detection and one case where $\text{(p?1)}\text{2}$ additional runs are needed to estimate all (p–1)² degrees of freedom for each pair of detected interactions. The detection procedure is simple enough that computations can be carried out with hand calculations.     

Isomorphism check in fractional factorial designs via letter interaction pattern matrix

Two fractional factorial designs are considered isomorphic if one can be obtained from the other by relabeling the factors, reordering the runs, and/or switching the levels of factors. To identify the isomorphism of two designs is known as an NP hard problem. In this paper, we propose a three-dimensional matrix named the letter interaction pattern matrix (LIPM) to characterize the information contained in the defining contrast subgroup of a regular two-level design. We first show that an LIPM could uniquely determine a design under isomorphism and then propose a set of principles to rearrange an LIPM to a standard form. In this way, we can significantly reduce the computational complexity in isomorphism check, which could only take O(2^p)+O(3k³)+O(2^k) operations to check two 2^k−p designs in the worst case. We also find a sufficient condition for two designs being isomorphic to each other, which is very simple and easy to use. In the end, we list some designs with the maximum numbers of clear or strongly clear two-factor interactions which were not found before.     

On some new search designs for 2m factorial experiments

In this paper, we obtain search designs with reasonably small number of treatments which permit the estimation of the general mean and main effects and search of one more unknown possible nonzero effect among two and three factor interactions in 2^m factorial experiments, 3 ? m ? 8.     

Two-Level Designs in Blocks of Size Two in Which All Main Effects and Two-Factor Interactions Are Estimable

There are many problems in the real world for which it is necessary to perform two points in one block. In this situation, information about certain treatments may be indistinguishable from, or confounded with, blocks. If the experimenter wants to estimate all main effects and two-factor interactions in which two points are in one block, then how to perform the blocking schemes is an important topic to study. In this article, we combine several 2 ^k?p fractions from same or different family to obtain better combined designs requiring fewer runs than those appearing in the literature.     

Clear Effects in the 2 n−p Combined Design

The technique of semifolding is used to develop the 2 ^n?p designs. Based on the initial analysis, some factors may be more important than others. In other words, the results from analyzing the original experiment may suggest a specific set of effects to be de-aliased. On the other hand, some previously acquired information might be available for specific factors. In these cases, one may desire to isolate the main effects of these factors and each of their two-factor interactions in the experiments. Four rules that are presented in this article can systematically isolate effects of potential interest, which should serve well for researchers in all disciplines. The combined design, by semifolding, provides estimates of the interactions that involve specific factors so that the alias chains of the two-factor interactions can be broken.     

The Efficient Methods to Construct Two-Per-Block Design in 2 k Plans

There are many situations which require the performing of two points in one block. Two subjects, in which all effects are available to estimate free of blocks and all main effects and two-factor interactions are estimated free of blocks, are worth to pursue in the 2 ^k design. In this article, we precisely present the minimum number of necessary blocks that enable to estimate the required effects. We also give a methodology to construct the combined designs without using computer search.     

Main effect plan for 2m factorials which allow search and estimation of one unknown effect

In this paper, we discuss resolution III plans for 2^m factorial experiments which have an additional property. We relax the classical assumption that all the interactions are negligible by assuming that (at most) one of them may be nonnegligible. Which interaction is nonnegligible is unknown. We discuss designs which allow the search and estimation of this interaction, along with the estimation of the general mean and the main effects as in the classical resolution III designs.     

Choice experiments for estimating main effects and interactions

Choice-based conjoint experiments are used when choice alternatives can be described in terms of attributes. The objective is to infer the value that respondents attach to attribute levels. This method involves the design of profiles on the basis of attributes specified at certain levels. Respondents are presented sets of profiles and asked to select the one they consider best. However if choice sets have too many profiles, they may be difficult to implement. In this paper we provide strategies for reducing the number of profiles in choice sets. We consider situations where only a subset of interactions is of interest, and we obtain connected main effect plans with smaller choice sets that are capable of estimating subsets of two-factor and three-factor interactions in 2ⁿ and 3ⁿ plans. We also provide connected main effect plans for mixed level designs.     

2m − p compromise plans with strongly clear specified main effects and two-factor interactions

This article studies two-level strongly clear compromise plans. We derive some necessary conditions for the existence of four classes of two-level strongly clear compromise plans which allow the estimations of some specified main effects and two-factor interactions, with the assumption that the fourth- or higher-order effects are negligible. Also, some methods for constructing 2^{m ? p} strongly clear compromise plans are introduced.     

Search designs for 2m factorials derived from balanced arrays of strength 2(l+1) and ad-optimal search designs

We consider a search design for the 2^m type such that at most knonnegative effects can be searched among (l+1)-factor interactions and estimated along with the effects up to l- factor interactions, provided (l+1)-factor and higher order interactions are negligible except for the k effects. We investigate some properties of a search design which is yielded by a balanced 2^m design of resolution 2l+1 derived from a balanced array of strength 2(l+1). A necessary and sufficient condition for the balanced design of resolution 2l+1 to be a search design for k=1 is given. Optimal search designs for k=1 in the class of the balanced 2^m designs of resolution V (l=2), with respect to the AD-optimality criterion given by Srivastava (1977), with N assemblies are also presented, where the range of (m,N) is (m=6; 28≤N≤41), (m=7; 35≤N≤63) and (m=8; 44≤N≤74).     

Model-robust supersaturated and partially supersaturated designs

Supersaturated designs are an increasingly popular tool for screening factors in the presence of effect sparsity. The advantage of this class of designs over resolution III factorial designs or Plackett–Burman designs is that n, the number of runs, can be substantially smaller than the number of factors, m. A limitation associated with most supersaturated designs produced thus far is that the capability of these designs for estimating g active effects has not been discussed. In addition to exploring this capability, we develop a new class of model-robust supersaturated designs that, for a given n and m, maximizes the number g   of active effects that can be estimated simultaneously. The capabilities of model-robust supersaturated designs for model discrimination are assessed using a model-discrimination criterion, the subspace angle. Finally, we introduce the class of partially supersaturated designs, intended for use when we require a specific subset of _m1$m_1$ core factors to be estimable, and the sparsity of effects principle applies to the remaining (m-_m1$m-m_1$) factors.     

Some new factor screening designs using the search linear model

Factor screening designs for searching two and three effective factors using the search linear model are discussed. The construction of such factor screening designs involved finding a fraction with small number of treatments of a 2^m factorial experiment having the property P_2t (no 2t columns are linearly dependent) for t=2 and 3. A ‘Packing Problem’ is introduced in this connection. A complete solution of the problem in one case and partial solutions for the other cases are presented. Many practically useful new designs are listed.     

On some optimal fractional 2m factorial designs of resolution V

This paper presents the trace of the covariance matrix of the estimates of effects based on a fractional 2^m factorial (2^m-FF) design T of resolution V for the following two cases: One is the case where T is constructed by adding some restricted assemblies to an orthogonal array. The other is one where T is constructed by removing some restricted assemblies from an orthogonal array of index unity. In the class of 2^m-FF designs of resolution V considered here, optimal designs with respect to the trace criterion, i.e. A-optimal, are presented for m = 4, 5, and 6 and for a range of practical values of N (the total number of assemblies). Some of them are better than the corresponding A-optimal designs in the class of balanced fractional 2^m factorial designs of resolution V obtained by Srivastava and Chopra (1971b) in such a sense that the trace of the covariance matrix of the estimates is small.     

Asymptotic relative efficiency of designs for factorial paired comparison experiments

A general approach for comparing designs of paired comparison experiments on the basis of the asymptotic relative efficiencies, in the Bahadur sense, of their respective likelihood ratio tests is discussed and extended to factorials. Explicit results for comparing five designs of 2^q factorial paired comparison experiments are obtained. These results indicate that some of the designs which require comparison of fewer distinct pairs of treatments than does the completely balanced design are, generally, more efficient for detecting main effects and/or certain interactions. The developments of this paper generalize the work of Littell and Boyett (1977) for comparing two designs of R x C factorial paired comparison experiments.     

Optimal Designs for 2 k Choice Experiments

Abstract

In this article we establish the choice sets in the D-optimal design for a choice experiment for testing main effects and for testing main effects and two-factor interactions, when there are k attributes, each with two levels, for choice set size m. We also give a method to construct optimal and near-optimal designs with small numbers of choice sets.