2**(k-p) Max. Unconfounded and Min. Aberration Design Creation

Designing/searching for 2**(k-p) designs that are maximally unconfounded, or of minimum aberration; the program will perform a search of designs with 2-level factors that match certain design criteria (maximum unconfounding, minimum aberration) generally aimed at yielding a set of experimental runs that permit the largest number of main effects and lower order interactions to be uniquely estimated (i.e., to be unconfounded with other main effects or interactions).

 Note that for many factors and few runs, the search for the best design can require a substantial amount of computing resources.

General

Element Name Description
Detail of computed results reported Output level of detail selection: Design Summary Only produces design only; Add Aliases and Generators produces also Aliasing of Effects spreadsheets, Alias Matrix spreadsheets, Generators of Fractional Design spreadsheet (if not a full factorial design), and Generators of Blocking Variable spreadsheet (if a design with a blocking variable was selected).
Ordering of runs Specifies ordering method for runs in design. Random, Standard (sequential), or by Blocks (the latter only if blocks are selected).
Random number seed Optional, if random ordering is selected; provide here a seed from 1 to 99999999 to create the random sequence of runs for the design.
Center points to add Add to design option: Number of center points (per block) to add to the design (minimum 0, 50 maximum).
Replicates to add Add to design option: Number of replicates to add to the design (minimum 0, 300 maximum).
Blank columns to add Add to design option: Number of blank columns to add to the design spreadsheet; this can be used as a convenient data entry form (minimum 0, 300 maximum).
Fold over the design Fold over the design to enhance resolution.

Design

Element Name Description
Number of factors Specifies the number of factors (k) in the design; a 2**(k-p) design will be constructed where the value of p is determined by the number of runs requested for the design.
Number of runs Specifies the number of runs in the design.
Number of blocks Specifies the number of blocks in the design.

Searching

Element Name Description
Search criterion The program will search for the best design according to the chosen criterion. Note that the search for higher resolution designs may require substantial computational resources.
Highest resolution The highest resolution specifies the resolution of designs to consider when max resolution is selected for the searching criterion.
Search strategy The comprehensive search method will search through all non-isomorphic generators; the quick search will perform a step-wise search, and may not find difficult designs.
Search directions Given two designs of equal 'quality', searching from the top will return the design with the higher-order interactions for generators.