English

D- and A-optimal Screening Designs

Methodology 2022-11-01 v2

Abstract

In practice, optimal screening designs for arbitrary run sizes are traditionally generated using the D-criterion with factor settings fixed at +/- 1, even when considering continuous factors with levels in [-1, 1]. This paper identifies cases of undesirable estimation variance properties for such D-optimal designs and argues that generally A-optimal designs tend to push variances closer to their minimum possible value. New insights about the behavior of the criteria are found through a study of their respective coordinate-exchange formulas. The study confirms the existence of D-optimal designs comprised only of settings +/- 1 for both main effect and interaction models for blocked and un-blocked experiments. Scenarios are also identified for which arbitrary manipulation of a coordinate between [-1, 1] leads to infinitely many D-optimal designs each having different variance properties. For the same conditions, the A-criterion is shown to have a unique optimal coordinate value for improvement. We also compare Bayesian version of the A- and D-criteria in how they balance minimization of estimation variance and bias. Multiple examples of screening designs are considered for various models under Bayesian and non-Bayesian versions of the A- and D-criteria.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2210.13943,
  title  = {D- and A-optimal Screening Designs},
  author = {Jonathan Stallrich and Katherine Allen-Moyer and Bradley Jones},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2210.13943},
  year   = {2022}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T04:27:24.263Z