NESTED DESIGN
When factor B is nested in levels of factor A, the levels of the nested factor don't have exactly the
same meaning under each level of the main factor, in this case factor A. In a nested design, the
levels of factor (B) are not identical to each other at different levels of factor (A), although they
might have the same labels. For example, if A is school and B is teacher, teacher 1 will differ
between the schools. This has to be kept in mind when trying to determine if the design is crossed
or nested. To be crossed, the same teacher needs to teach at all the schools.
As another example, consider a company that purchases material from three suppliers and the
material comes in batches. In this case, we might have 4 batches from each supplier, but the
batches don't have the same characteristics of quality when purchased from different suppliers.
Therefore, the batches would be nested. When we have a nested factor and you want to represent
this in the model the identity of the batch always requires an index of the factor in which it is
nested.
Because not every level of B appears with every level of A, there is no interaction between A and B.
(In most of our designs, the error is nested in the treatments, but we only use this notation for
error when there are other nested factors in the design).
When B is a random factor nested in A, we think of it as the replicates for A. So whether factor A is
a fixed or random factor the error term for testing the hypothesis about A is based on the mean
squares due to B(A) which is read "B nested in A". ANOVA TABLE
n=abr N=abr If a=3, b=4 and If a=3, b=4 and
B nested in A A nested in B r=4 n=abr=48, r=4 n=abr=48,
SOV DF SOV DF B nested in A A nested in B
A a-1 B b-1 SOV DF SOV DF
B (A) a(b - 1) A (B) b(a - 1) A 3-1=2 B 4-1=3
Error ab(r - 1) Error ab(r - 1) B (A) 3(4-1)=9 A (B) 4(3-1)=8
Total n - 1 Total n - 1 Error 47-11=36 Error 47-11=36
Total n-1=47 Total n-1=47
Another way to think about this is to note that batch is the experimental unit for the factor
'supplier'. Does it matter how many measurements you make on each batch? (Yes, this will improve
your measurement precision on the batch.) However, the variability among the batches from the
supplier is the appropriate measure of the variability of factor A, the suppliers.
Essentially the question that we want to answer is, "Is the purity of the material the same across
suppliers?"
In this example the model assumes that the batches are random samples from each supplier, i.e.
suppliers are fixed, the batches are random, and the observations are random.
Experimental design: Select four batches at random from each of three suppliers. Make three purity
determinations from each batch. See the schematic representation of this design in Fig.
It is the average of the batches and the variability across the batches that are most important.
When analyzing these data, we want to decide which supplier should they use? This will depend on
both the supplier mean and the variability among batches?
Here is the design question: How many batches should you take and how many measurements
should you make on each batch? This will depend on the cost of performing a measurement versus
the cost of getting another batch. If measurements are expensive one could get many batches and
just take a few measurements on each batch, or if it is costly to get a new batch then you may want
to spend more money taking many multiple measurements per batch.
At a minimum, you need at least two measurements (n = 2) so that you can estimate the variability
among your measurements, σ2, and at least two batches per supplier (b = 2) so you can estimate
the variability among batches, σβ2. Some would say that you need at least three in order to be
sure!
To repeat the design question: how large should b and n be, or, how many batches versus how
many samples per batch? This will be a function of the cost of taking a measurement and the cost
of getting another batch. In order to answer these questions, you need to know these cost
functions. It will also depend on the variance among batches versus the variance of the
measurements within batches.
Minitab can provide the estimates of these variance components.
Minitab General Linear Model, bases its F tests on what the expected mean squares determine is
the appropriate error. The program will tell us that when we test the hypothesis of no supplier
effect, we should use the variation among batches (since Batch is random) as the error for the test.