Discussion of general 2**k designs (k>2)

Theory

Method for 2**2 design generalizes to 2**k (k>2).

k=3 case: Model is:

y = q_0 + q_A * x_A + q_B * x_B + q_C * x_C +

    q_AB * x_A * x_B + q_BC * x_B * x_BC + q_AC * x_A * x_C

    q_ABC * x_A * x_B * x_C

The sign table generalizes to allow computation of the q's.

General case: Analysis produces 2**k effects:


Example

Consider a workstation design with three factors:

Factor                    Level -1         Level 1
----------------------------------------------------
Memory size, A            4 Mbytes         16 Mbytes
Cache size, B             1 kbytes          2 kbytes
Number processors, C      1                 2    

The experiment results, measuring throughput in MIPS, are:

Cache                 4Mbytes                16 Mbytes    
Size              One        Two         One          Two
(kbytes)         Procs      Procs       Procs        Procs
----------------------------------------------------------
1                 14         46          22           58
2                 10         50          34           86

The sign table is:

Experiment   I    A    B    C    AB    AC    BC    ABC     y 
-------------------------------------------------------------
1            1   -1   -1   -1     1     1     1     -1     14
2            1    1   -1   -1    -1    -1     1      1     22
3            1   -1    1   -1    -1     1    -1      1     10
4            1    1    1   -1     1    -1    -1     -1     34
5            1   -1   -1    1     1    -1    -1      1     46
6            1    1   -1    1    -1     1    -1     -1     58
7            1   -1    1    1    -1    -1     1     -1     50
8            1    1    1    1     1     1     1      1     86
-------------------------------------------------------------
Totals:    320   80   40  160   40     16    24      8
Totals/8:   40   10    5   20    5      2     3      1

Thus:

q_0   = sample mean = 40
q_A   = 10
q_B   =  5
q_C   = 20
q_AB  =  5
q_AC  =  2
q_BC  =  3
q_ABC =  1

The variation is

SST = SSA + SSB + SSC + SSAB + SSAC + SSBC + SSABC
    = 2**3 * q_A**2  + ... + 2**3 * q_ABC**2
    = 4512

variation due to A   = SSA/SST 
		     = (2**3 * q_A**2)/SST
		     = 800/4512
		     = 18%

variation due to B   =  4%
variation due to C   = 71%
variation due to AB  =  4%
variation due to AC  =  1%
variation due to BC  =  2%
variation due to ABC =  0%