A General Approach to Confidence Regions for Optimal Factor Levels of Response Surfaces
Peterson, J.J.; Cahya, S.; Del Castillo, E.
Biometrics 58(2): 422-431
2002
ISSN/ISBN: 0006-341X PMID: 12071416 DOI: 10.1111/j.0006-341x.2002.00422.x
Accession: 009746120
For a response surface experiment, an approximate hypothesis test and an associated confidence region is proposed for the minimizing (or maximizing) factor-level configuration. Carter et al. (1982, Cancer Research 42, 2963-2971) show that confidence regions for optimal conditions provide a way to make decisions about therapeutic synergism. The response surface may be constrained to be within a specified, bounded region. These constraint regions can be quite general. This allows for more realistic constraint modeling and a wide degree of applicability, including constraints occurring in mixture experiments. The usual assumption of a quadratic model is also generalized to include any regression model that is linear in the model parameters. An intimate connection is established between this confidence region and the Box-Hunter (1954, Biometrika 41, 190-199) confidence region for a stationary point. As a byproduct, this methodology also provides a way to construct a confidence interval for the difference between the optimal mean response and the mean response at a specified factor-level configuration. The application of this confidence region is illustrated with two examples. Extensive simulations indicate that this confidence region has good coverage properties.
