The Randomized Block Design

Suppose a researcher is interested in how several treatments affect a continuous response variable (Y). The treatments may be the levels of a single factor or they may be the combinations of levels of several factors. Suppose we have available to us a total of N = nt experimental units to which we are going to apply the different treatments.

The Completely Randomized (CR) design randomly divides the experimental units into t groups of size n and randomly assigns a treatment to each group.

The Randomized Block Design divides the group of experimental units into n homogeneous groups of size t. These homogeneous groups are called blocks. The treatments are then randomly assigned to the experimental units in each block one treatment to a unit in each block.

Example 1:
Suppose we are interested in how weight gain (Y) in rats is affected by Source of protein (Beef, Cereal, and Pork) and by Level of Protein (High or Low). There are a total of t = 32 = 6 treatment combinations of the two factors (Beef -High Protein, Cereal-High Protein, Pork-High Protein, Beef -Low Protein, Cereal-Low Protein, and Pork-Low Protein) .

 Suppose we have available to us a total of N = 60 experimental rats to which we are going to apply the different diets based on the t = 6 treatment combinations. Prior to the experimentation the rats were divided into n = 10 homogeneous groups of size 6. The grouping was based on factors that had previously been ignored (Example - Initial weight size, appetite size etc.) Within each of the 10 blocks a rat is randomly assigned a treatment combination (diet).

 The weight gain after a fixed period is measured for each of the test animals and is tabulated on the next slide:

Randomized Block Design

Block 1

107 (1)

96 (2)

112 (3)

83 (4)

87 (5)

90 (6)

Block 6

128 (1)

89 (2)

104 (3)

85 (4)

84 (5)

89 (6)

102 (1)

72 (2)

100 (3)

82 (4)

70 (5)

94 (6)

56 (1)

70 (2)

72 (3)

64 (4)

62 (5)

63 (6)

102 (1)

76 (2)

102 (3)

85 (4)

95 (5)

86 (6)

97 (1)

91 (2)

92 (3)

80 (4)

72 (5)

82 (6)

93 (1)

70 (2)

93 (3)

63 (4)

71 (5)

63 (6)

80 (1)

63 (2)

87 (3)

82 (4)

81 (5)

63 (6)

111 (1)

79 (2)

101 (3)

72 (4)

75 (5)

81 (6)

10

103 (1)

102 (2)

112 (3)

83 (4)

93 (5)

81 (6)

Example 2:
The following experiment is interested in comparing the effect four different chemicals (A, B, C and D) in producing water resistance (y) in textiles. A strip of material, randomly selected from each bolt, is cut into four pieces (samples) the pieces are randomly assigned to receive one of the four chemical treatments.

 This process is replicated three times producing a Randomized Block (RB) design. Moisture resistance (y) were measured for each of the samples. (Low readings indicate low moisture penetration). The data is given in the diagram and table on the next slide.

Diagram: Blocks (Bolt Samples)

9.9 10.1 11.4 12.1 C A B D 13.4 12.9 12.2 12.3 D B A C 12.7 12.9 11.4 11.9 B D C A

Table
Chemical A B C D

Blocks (Bolt Samples) 1 2 3 10.1 12.2 11.9 11.4 12.9 12.7 9.9 12.3 11.4 12.1 13.4 12.9

The Model for a randomized Block Experiment

yij i j ij
i = 1,2,, t j = 1,2,, b
yij i j ij

yij = the observation in the jth block receiving the ith treatment

= overall mean i = the effect of the ith treatment j = the effect of the jth Block ij = random error

The Anova Table for a randomized Block Experiment

Source Treat Block Error

S.S. SST SSB SSE

d.f. t-1 n-1 (t-1)(b-1)

M.S. MST MSB MSE

F MST /MSE MSB /MSE

p-value

 A randomized block experiment is assumed to be a two-factor experiment.

The factors are blocks and treatments.

The is one observation per cell. It is assumed that there is no interaction between blocks and treatments. The degrees of freedom for the interaction is used to estimate error.

The Anova Table for Diet Experiment

Source Block Diet ERROR

S.S 5992.4167 4572.8833 3147.2833

d.f. 9 5 45

M.S. F 665.82407 9.52 914.57667 13.076659 69.93963

p-value 0.00000 0.00000

The Anova Table forTextile Experiment

SOURCE Blocks Chem ERROR

SUM OF SQUARES 7.17167 5.20000 0.53500

D.F. 2 3 6

MEAN SQUARE 3.5858 1.7333 0.0892

F 40.21 19.44

TAIL PROB. 0.0003 0.0017

 If the treatments are defined in terms of two or more factors, the treatment Sum of Squares can be split (partitioned) into: Main Effects Interactions

The Anova Table for Diet Experiment terms for the main effects and interactions between Level of Protein and Source of Protein
Source Block Diet ERROR S.S 5992.4167 4572.8833 3147.2833 d.f. 9 5 45 M.S. F 665.82407 9.52 914.57667 13.076659 69.93963 p-value 0.00000 0.00000

Source Block Source Level SL ERROR

S.S 5992.4167 882.23333 2680.0167 1010.6333 3147.2833

d.f. 9 2 1 2 45

M.S. 665.82407 441.11667 2680.0167 505.31667 69.93963

F 9.52 6.31 38.32 7.23

p-value 0.00000 0.00380 0.00000 0.00190

Repeated Measures Designs

In a Repeated Measures Design

We have experimental units that may be grouped according to one or several factors (the grouping factors) Then on each experimental unit we have not a single measurement but a group of measurements (the repeated measures) The repeated measures may be taken at combinations of levels of one or several factors (The repeated measures factors)

Example
In the following study the experimenter was interested in how the level of a certain enzyme changed in cardiac patients after open heart surgery.

The enzyme was measured immediately after surgery (Day 0), one day (Day 1), two days (Day 2) and one week (Day 7) after surgery for n = 15 cardiac surgical patients.

The data is given in the table below.

Table: The enzyme levels -immediately after surgery (Day
0), one day (Day 1),two days (Day 2) and one week (Day 7)

after surgery
Subject 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Day 0 Day 1 Day 2 Day 7 108 63 45 42 112 75 56 52 114 75 51 46 129 87 69 69 115 71 52 54 122 80 68 68 105 71 52 54 117 77 54 61 Subject 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Day 0 Day 1 Day 2 Day 7 106 65 49 49 110 70 46 47 120 85 60 62 118 78 51 56 110 65 46 47 132 92 73 63 127 90 73 68

 The subjects are not grouped (single group). There is one repeated measures factor Time with levels
Day 0, Day 1, Day 2, Day 7

This design is the same as a randomized block design with

Blocks = subjects

The Anova Table for Enzyme Experiment

Source Subject Day ERROR SS 4221.100 36282.267 390.233 df MS 14 301.507 3 12094.089 42 9.291 F 32.45 1301.66 p-value 0.0000 0.0000

The Subject Source of variability is modelling the variability between subjects The ERROR Source of variability is modelling the variability within subjects

Example :
(Repeated Measures Design - Grouping Factor)

In the following study, similar to example 3, the experimenter was interested in how the level of a certain enzyme changed in cardiac patients after open heart surgery. In addition the experimenter was interested in how two drug treatments (A and B) would also effect the level of the enzyme.

 The 24 patients were randomly divided into three groups of n= 8 patients. The first group of patients were left untreated as a control group while the second and third group were given drug treatments A and B respectively. Again the enzyme was measured immediately after surgery (Day 0), one day (Day 1), two days (Day 2) and one week (Day 7) after surgery for each of the cardiac surgical patients in the study.

Table: The enzyme levels - immediately after surgery (Day 0),

one day (Day 1),two days (Day 2) and one week (Day 7) after surgery for three treatment groups (control, Drug A, Drug B)
Control Day 1 2 87 68 75 55 80 66 71 54 89 70 81 62 73 56 67 53 Group Drug A Day 1 2 56 36 51 33 73 58 75 57 71 57 76 58 64 54 80 63 Drug B Day 1 2 46 30 67 50 97 80 58 45 78 67 74 54 59 43 76 64

0 122 112 129 115 126 118 115 112

7 58 48 64 52 71 60 49 44

0 93 78 109 104 108 116 108 110

7 37 34 49 60 65 58 47 62

0 86 100 122 101 112 106 90 110

7 31 50 72 43 66 54 38 58

 The subjects are grouped by treatment

control, Drug A, Drug B

There is one repeated measures factor Time with levels

Day 0, Day 1, Day 2, Day 7

The Anova Table

Source Drug Error1 Time Time x Drug Error2 SS 1745.396 10287.844 47067.031 357.688 668.031 df 2 21 3 6 63 MS 872.698 489.897 15689.010 59.615 10.604 F 1.78 1479.58 5.62 p-value 0.1929 0.0000 0.0001

There are two sources of Error in a repeated measures design:

The between subject error Error1 and

the within subject error Error2

Tables of means

Drug Control A B Overall

Day 0 118.63 103.25 103.38 108.42

Day 1 77.88 68.25 69.38 71.83

Day 2 60.50 52.00 54.13 55.54

Day 7 55.75 51.50 51.50 52.92

Overall 78.19 68.75 69.59 72.18

120

Time Profiles of Enzyme Levels

100

Control Drug A

Enzyme Level

Drug B 80

60

40 0 1 2 3 Day 4 5 6 7