7 Steps of an Experiment

Seven Steps of an Experiment

1. Recognition & statement of problem.
   • All members should agree on.
2. Choice of factors, levels, and ranges.
   • Teamwork!
     • Experts tend to design experiments that are too narrow in order to prove their preconceived answer to the problem.
     • Don’t let that happen! Bring in other points of view.
   • Choosing the factors
   • Levels: fairly low numbers.
   • Ranges: be aggressive enough to see the actual impact instead of noises.
3. Selection of the response variables.
   • What’s the metric?
   • How to get those metrics? Well-calibrated instruments?
4. Choice of design.
5. Conducting the experiment.
   • Do it yourself!
   • Be there! Make sure the experiments are done correctly.
6. Statistical analysis.
   • Easy as long as steps 1 through 5 are done correctly.
7. Drawing conclusions, recommendations.
   • Data visualization matters.

Takeaways

• Get statistical thinking involved early.
• Non-statistical knowledge is crucial to success.
• Pre-experimental planning (1-3) is vital.

If you have ten weeks to solve a problem, you should spend eight weeks planning the experiment, one week executing the experiment, and one week analyzing the data.

• Think and experiment sequentially (KISS principle).