Fundamental Concepts in the Design of Experiments

This book is very valuable for those actively engaged in the conduct of experiments, either operational or developmental in nature. It does require someone with a background in statistical methods using analysis of variance. The user needs to have a good understanding of statistical inference. There are many good working models of various analytic procedures provided.

This book is written for people who already know the theory of statistics and want to do statistic consulting. The author begins with the basics of design of experiments: experiment, design and analysis. Then a brief (lovely) review of statistical inference follows; including: Estimation, test of hypothesis, power function and some easy applications. In the following chapters almost all statistical methods are presented; among others: single factor experiments, randomized block and latin square, factorial experiments, nested, experiments of two or more factors, 2^f -, 3^f factorials, split plot design, Taguchi, regression and finally miscellaneous topics including covariance analysis, response-surface experimentation and more. After each chapter there are problems and answers to odd-numbered problems can be found at the end of the book. Included is a practical summery with all methods presented in one table. Additionally you find a glossary of terms used in statisics, statistical tables and an index.The examples in the book are analysed using SAS. Knowing that S-Plus is much easier to handle (and knowing that SAS is frequently used in the industry), this is very useful. The mathematics used is easy, but - as mentioned in the preface - the fundamental concepts of statistical inference must be known.