STATGRAPHICS – Rev.

7/16/2009

DOE Wizard – Variance Component Designs

Summary
The DOE Wizard can construct experimental designs to quantify the sources of variability in a
process. The runs are arranged in a hierarchical manner, with factors nested one within another.
The primary output of such an experiment is determination of the relative contribution of
different components to the overall variability in a response variable.

Example:
Box, Hunter and Hunter (1978) describe an experiment designed to determine the relative
contribution of three components to the variability in the moisture content of a pigment paste.
The study consisted of:

1. Selecting 15 different batches of pigment paste.

2. Taking 2 samples from each batch.

3. Measuring the moisture content of each sample twice.

From this design, the experimenters could estimate the variability from batch to batch, the
variability of samples within a batch, and the repeatability of the measurement process. The
relative magnitude of these 3 components was expected to provide important information about
where the majority of the observed variability was being introduced.

Unlike the Multi-factor Categorical experiments, the factors in a Variance Components design
are nested within each other. In the example, samples are nested within batches, while tests are
nested within samples. When specifying the factors, it is important that they be specified in the
order of nesting, from the topmost factor down.

Sample StatFolio: doewiz varcomp.sgp

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Design Creation
To begin the design creation process, start with an empty StatFolio. Select DOE – Experimental
Design Wizard to load the DOE Wizard’s main window. Then push each button in sequence to
create the design.

Step #1 – Define Responses

The first step of the design creation process displays a dialog box used to specify the response
variables. For the current example, there is a single response variable:

 Name: The name for the variable is moisture.

 Units: There are no units in this example.

 Analyze: The parameter of interest is the mean moisture.

 Goal: The goal of the experiment is to achieve mean moisture equal to the target of 27.5.

 Impact: The relative importance of each response (not relevant if only one response).

 Sensitivity: The importance of being close to the best desired value (in this case, the
Minimum). Setting Sensitivity to Medium implies that the desirability attributed to the
response decreases linearly between the Minimum and Maximum values indicated.

 Minimum and Maximum: Range of desirable values for the response (25-30).
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Step #2 – Define Experimental Factors

The second step displays a dialog box on which to specify the factors that will be varied:

 Name – Each factor must be assigned a unique name. In this design, each factor is nested
within the factor above it.

 Units – Units are optional.

 Type – Set the type of each factor to Categorical, since there is a discrete set of possible
values for each.

 The role of each factor is displayed as Controllable.

 Levels – identify the levels of the factor, separating each level by a comma.

Step #3 – Select Design

The third step begins by displaying the dialog box shown below:

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Since all of the factors are controllable process factors, only one Options button is enabled.
Pressing that button displays a second dialog box:

 Replicate Design: number of additional runs at each combination of the factor levels (not
counting the first run).

 Randomize: check to put the runs in random order within each set of replicates.

The above dialog box requests a total of 60 runs, 1 each at the 15x2x2 = 60 combinations of the
factor levels.

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When OK is pressed, the tentatively selected design is displayed in the Select Design dialog box:

If the design is acceptable, press OK to save it to the STATGRAPHICS DataBook and return to
the DOE Wizard’s main window, which should now contain a summary of the design:

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Step #4: Specify Model

This step is not relevant for variance components designs. A standard variance components
model will be fit as described in the document titled Variance Components Analysis.

Step #5: Select Runs

This step is also not relevant, since all runs will be performed.

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Design Properties

Step #6: Evaluate Design

Several of the selections presented when pressing button #6 are helpful in evaluating the selected
design:

Design Worksheet

The design worksheet shows the 60 runs that have been created, in the order they are to be run:

Worksheet for <untitled> - Pigment paste example

run batch sample test moisture
1 1 1 1
2 1 1 2
3 1 2 1
4 1 2 2
5 2 1 1
6 2 1 2
7 2 2 1
8 2 2 2
9 3 1 1
10 3 1 2
11 3 2 1
12 3 2 2
13 4 1 1
14 4 1 2
15 4 2 1
16 4 2 2
17 5 1 1
18 5 1 2

ANOVA Table
The ANOVA table shows the breakdown of the degrees of freedom in the design:

ANOVA Table

Source D.F.
Model 29
Total Error 30
Total (corr.) 59

The degrees of freedom listed as available for estimating total error come from replicate
measurements at the lowest level factor.

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Design Points

The graph of the design points shows the experimental design:

Pigment paste example

batch

sample

test

A total of 60 tests will be performed.

Saving the Design File

Step #7: Save experiment

Once the experiment has been created, it must be saved on disk. Press the button labeled Step 7
and select a name for the experiment file:

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Design files are extended data files and have the extension .sgx. They include the data together
with other information that was entered on the input dialog boxes.

To reopen an experiment file, select Open Data File from the File menu. The data will be loaded
into the datasheet, and the Experimental Design Wizard window will be displayed.

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Analyzing the Results

After the design file has been created and saved, the experiments would be performed. At a later
date, once the results have been collected, the experimenter would return to STATGRAPHICS
and reopen the saved design file using the Open Data Source selection on the main File menu.
The results can then be typed into the response columns. The results for the example are
displayed below:

run batch sample test moisture

1 1 1 1 40
2 1 1 2 39
3 1 2 1 30
4 1 2 2 30
5 2 1 1 26
6 2 1 2 28
7 2 2 1 25
8 2 2 2 26
9 3 1 1 29
10 3 1 2 28
11 3 2 1 14
12 3 2 2 15
13 4 1 1 30
14 4 1 2 31
15 4 2 1 24
16 4 2 2 24
17 5 1 1 19
18 5 1 2 20
19 5 2 1 17
20 5 2 2 17
21 6 1 1 33
22 6 1 2 32
23 6 2 1 26
24 6 2 2 24
25 7 1 1 23
26 7 1 2 24
27 7 2 1 32
28 7 2 2 33
29 8 1 1 34
30 8 1 2 34
31 8 2 1 29
32 8 2 2 29
33 9 1 1 27
34 9 1 2 27
35 9 2 1 31
36 9 2 2 31
37 10 1 1 13
38 10 1 2 16
39 10 2 1 27
40 10 2 2 24
41 11 1 1 25
42 11 1 2 23
43 11 2 1 25
44 11 2 2 27
45 12 1 1 29
46 12 1 2 29
47 12 2 1 31
48 12 2 2 32
49 13 1 1 19
50 13 1 2 20
51 13 2 1 29
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52 13 2 2 30
53 14 1 1 23
54 14 1 2 24
55 14 2 1 25
56 14 2 2 25
57 15 1 1 39
58 15 1 2 37
59 15 2 1 26
60 15 2 2 28

Step #8: Analyze data

Once the data have been entered, press the button labeled Step #8 on the Experimental Design
Wizard toolbar. This will display a dialog box listing each of the response variables:

 Response: column containing the response variable to be analyzed.

 Transformation: the desired transformation to be applied before the model is fit.

 Power and addend: the transformation parameters if a Power or Box-Cox transformation is

selected.

If more than one response has been measured, you should repeat this step once for each response.
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When OK is pressed, the program will invoke the Variance Components Analysis procedure.
Full details of that procedure are available in the corresponding document.

Of particular interest in the current example are several tables and graphs:

Analysis Summary
The Analysis Summary displays the percentage contribution of each component to the overall
variance of the response variable:

Analyze Experiment - moisture

Dependent variable: moisture
Factors:
batch
sample
test
Number of complete cases: 60

Analysis of Variance for moisture

Source Sum of Squares Df Mean Square Var. Comp. Percent
TOTAL (CORRECTED) 2108.18 59
batch 1210.93 14 86.4952 7.12798 19.49
sample 869.75 15 57.9833 28.5333 78.01
test 27.5 30 0.916667 0.916667 2.51

In the example, the majority of the variability was introduced from samples within the same
batch, indicating a possible problem with mixing.

Variance Components Plot

The Variance Components Plot displays the average value of each level of one factor when
nested within another:

Variance Component Plot

43

38

33
moisture

28

23

18

13
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15

2 4 6 8 10 12 14
batch

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In the plot above, each point represents the average of the two tests run on each sample from
each batch. Note the large differences between samples coming from the same batch.

Component Deviation Plot

The Component Deviation Plot displays the deviation of each observation from the mean of all
observations at the same level of a selected factor:

Component Deviation Plot for moisture

batch 19.49%

sample 78.01%

test 2.51%
-14 -9 -4 1 6 11 16

deviation from mean

The bottom line of the plot shows the deviation of each observation from the mean of all tests
made on the same sample. The middle line shows the deviation of each observation from the
mean of all samples taken from the same batch. The top line shows the deviation of each
observation from the mean of all batches (the grand mean). It is easy to see that a large amount
of variability is introduced at the middle level, from differences between samples taken from the
same batch.

Step 10: Save results

The button labeled Step 10 allows you to save the results in a StatFolio:

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Actually, the StatFolio can be saved at any point and reloaded at a later date.

IMPORTANT: When using the Experimental Design Wizard, two files are created:

1. An experiment file with the extension .sgd which stores information about the
experimental data.

2. A StatFolio with the extension .sgp that stores the results of the analysis.

If you move the experiment to another computer, be sure to transfer both files.

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