USING FRACTIONAL FACTORIAL-DESIGNS IN FOREST PRODUCTS RESEARCH

Fractional replication is an experimental design that enables a resear cher to evaluate several factors, in an experiment of manageable size, by using a portion of the treatment combinations that normally would be used in a complete factorial experiment. Such a technique is useful for 1) screening a large number of factors, as in an exploratory stud y, and 2) identifying which of many factors merit more detailed evalua tion. This article describes fractional replication and presents an ex ample of its application to a study of the effect of eight factors on white oak plywood bond quality.