SINFA!

Experimental methods are widely used in research as well as in industrial settings, however, sometimes for very different purposes. The primary goal in scientific research is usually to show the statistical significance of an effect that a particular factor exerts on the dependent variable of interest.

In industrial settings, the primary goal is usually to extract the maximum amount of unbiased information regarding the factors affecting a production process from as few (costly) observations as possible. While in the former application (in science) analysis of variance (ANOVA) techniques are used to uncover the interactive nature of reality, as manifested in higher-order interactions of factors, in industrial settings interaction effects are often regarded as a "nuisance" (they are often of no interest; they only complicate the process of identifying important factors).