Statistics for Six Sigma Green Belts with Minitab and JMP

8.1. Design of Experiments: Background and Rationale

The ideas involved in the design of experiments are not new. They were originally developed by R. A. Fisher in England early in the twentieth century [see References 1 and 4]. His original work focused on improving agricultural experimentation. Fisher’s contributions to experimental design were based on several fundamental principles. First, Fisher developed an experimental strategy that purposely designed experiments to simultaneously study several factors (Xs) of interest on a CTQ (Y). This approach was considered novel, because it contrasted with the scientific method as practiced in the nineteenth century of varying only one factor at a time. Second, he developed the concept of randomization ...