Design Role

Factors in designed experiments, as well as in more general models, can behave in various ways. JMP uses the design role column property to describe these behaviors. These are the possible design roles:

•	Continuous

•	Discrete Numeric

•	Categorical

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•

•

•

•	Uncontrolled

•	Random Block

•

Signal

•

Noise

In many of the JMP DOE platforms, you can specify factors with different design roles. In some platforms, your design requirements cause JMP to define factors. For example, Whole Plots and Subplots are factors that JMP creates when you specify very-hard-to-change and hard-to-change factors. In platforms where various design roles can occur, when JMP creates the design table for your design, each factor is assigned the Design Role column property.

•	For descriptions of the design roles other than Random Block, Signal, and Noise, see Factor Types in Custom Designs.

•	For a description of the Random Block design role, see Changes and Random Blocks in Custom Designs.

•	For descriptions of the Signal and Noise design roles, see Detail the Response and Add Factors in Taguchi Designs.

Design Role Example

The experiment in the Odor Control Original.jmp sample data table studies the effect of three factors on odor. You designed the 15-run experiment and it was conducted. However, when the results were reported to you, you learned that the experiment was conducted over three days. The first 5 runs were conducted on Day 1, the second 5 runs on Day 2, and the remaining 5 runs on Day 3.

Since variations in temperature and humidity might have an effect on the response, you want to include Day as a random blocking factor. It is easy to add a column for Day to the design table. But you want to use the Evaluate Design platform to compare the design with the unexpected block to your original design. You also want the ability to use the Augment Design platform in case you need to augment the design. To use the Evaluate Design and Augment Design platforms, you need to add the Design Role column property to your new Day column.

1.	Select Help > Sample Data Library and open Odor Control Original.jmp.

2.	Select Cols > Add Multiple Columns.

3.	Next to Column prefix, type Day.

4.	Under Add Where, select After selected column.

5.	Select Run from the list of column names.

6.	From the Initial Data Values list, select Sequence Data.

7.	Enter the following:

‒	1 for From

‒

3 for To

‒	1 for Step

‒	5 for Repeat each value N times

Completed Add Multiple Columns Window

Click OK.

The Day column is added as the second column in the data table.

9.	Select the Day column.

10.	Select Cols > Column Info.

11.	From the Column Properties list, select Design Role.

12.	In the Design Role panel, click Continuous and select Random Block.

13.

Click OK.

In the columns panel, an asterisk appears next to Day.

14.	Click the asterisk next to Day to verify that the Design Role column property has been assigned.

15.	Close the Odor Control Original.jmp sample data table without saving the changes.