ENGINEERING DATA ANALYSIS

University of Southeastern Philippines

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
Obrero, Davao City

MATH 212
ENGINEERING DATA ANALYSIS

DALIA M. RECONALLA, Ph.D

August 2020

1|Page
 ENGINEERING DATA ANALYSIS

Faculty Information:

Name: Dalia M. Reconalla

Email: dalia.reconalla@usep.edu.ph
Contact Number: 0906-209-6611
Office: College of Engineering
Contact Number: (082) 224-3334
Consultation Hours: By appointment - may be arranged through:
 Official email
 Facebook messenger/Facebook group chat
 Text or call

Getting help

For academic concerns (College/Adviser - Contact details)

For administrative concerns (College Dean - Contact details)
For UVE concerns (KMD - Contact details)
For health and wellness concerns (UAGC, HSD and OSAS - Contact
details)

2|Page
 ENGINEERING DATA ANALYSIS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CONTENTS PAGE

Cover Page ……………………………………………… 1

Faculty Information …………………………………….... 2

Table of Content ………………………………………… 3

Submission Requirements …………………………….. 4

Lesson 3 ………………………………………………… 5

Application 3 ……………………………………………. 10

Summary ……………………………………………. 11

Module 1 Assessment ………………………………… 12

References …………………………………...... 14

3|Page
 ENGINEERING DATA ANALYSIS

Submission of Requirements

o Digital submission

 For handwritten solution or answers, students are required to

take photos or scan their works and have these pasted in word
file and save with the following information written on the upper
left corner of each page with signature above the name.

Name, Course, Year and section

Module #, Lesson #

Example: Juan dela Cruz BSCE, 1-2

Module 1-Lesson 3

 File name: Outputs of exercises must be sent/uploaded to the

uve with filename:

Family Name, First Name_Course Year –Section, Module #-

Lesson #

Example: dela Cruz, Juan_BSCE 1-2, Module 1-Lesson 3

 Documents can be sent through the professor’s official email, or

class USeP VLE account.

o University Dropbox or Courier Submission

 Hardcopy of assessment outputs must be placed in a long board

folder of any color properly fastened with complete information
written in the front cover of the folder:
College:
Name of Student:
Course:
Subject:
Date of Submission:
Professor’s Name:

The professor in charge must be informed of the submission through

SMS or FB Messenger.

4|Page
 ENGINEERING DATA ANALYSIS

Learning Outcome:

o Understand the concept of experimental design.

o Distinguish the methods of experimental design.

Time Frame: 2 hours

Introduction:

Sometimes the questions you are trying to answer deal with the effect of
certain explanatory variables on some response. Such questions are often of the form,
―What happens when . . . ?‖ or ―What is the effect of . . . ?‖ Experiments provide a way
to collect data to answer these types of questions.

This lesson present the key concept of experiment design, and the methods of
experimental design.

Activity
Suppose in an experiment, the researchers decide to use two room
temperature settings, 18°C and 24°C. Further suppose that there are 10 sections of
first-semester Calculus1 that have agreed to participate in the study. The experiment
is designed in this way:

Set the room temperature to 18°C in five of the rooms and to 24°C in the other
five rooms on test day, and then compare the exam scores for the 18°C group and the
24°C group. Suppose that the average exam score for the students in the 18°C group
was noticeably higher than the average for the 24°C group.

Analysis

Based on the information given in the activity, could you conclude that the
increased temperature resulted in a lower average score? Yes or No.
If no, are their any factors that affects or are related to the exam scores? Can you
enumerate them?

Abstraction:

1.1 . Concepts of Experimental Design

5|Page
 ENGINEERING DATA ANALYSIS

For example, an engineer may be considering two different workstation designs

and might want to know whether the choice of design affects work performance.
Experiments provide a way to collect data to answer these types of questions.

Before we describe the concepts of experimental design, the following terms are
defined:

Definition 1.

An experiment is a study in which one or more explanatory variables are

manipulated in order to observe the effect on a response variable.

An experimental condition is any particular combination of values for the

explanatory variables. Experimental conditions are also called treatments.

An experimental unit is the smallest unit to which a treatment is applied.

The explanatory variables are those variables that have values that are controlled
by the experimenter. Also called independent variable or factors.

The response variable is a variable that is not controlled by the experimenter and
that is measured as part of the experiment. Also called dependent variable.

In the language of experimental design, treatments are assigned at random to

experimental units, and replication means that each treatment is applied to more than
one experimental unit.

Illustration 1. Suppose we are interested in determining the effect of room

temperature on performance on a first-year Calculus 1 exam. In this case, the
explanatory variable is room temperature (it can be manipulated by the
experimenter). The response variable is exam performance (the variable that
is not controlled by the experimenter and that will be measured).

In general, we can identify the explanatory variables and the response variable easily
if we can describe the purpose of the experiment in the following terms:

The purpose is to assess the effect of ⏟ on ⏟ .

A well-designed experiment requires more than just manipulating the explanatory

variables; the design must also eliminate other possible explanations or the
experimental results will not be conclusive(Peck,R, Olsen, C. and Devore, J.,
2012).

In designing an experiment our goal is to determine the effects of the

explanatory variables on the chosen response variable. To do this, we must take into
consideration any extraneous variables that, although not of interest in the current
study, might also affect the response variable.

6|Page
 ENGINEERING DATA ANALYSIS

Definition 3.

An extraneous variable is one that is not one of the explanatory variables in the
study but is thought to affect the response variable.

A well-designed experiment copes with the potential effects of extraneous

variables by using random assignment to experimental conditions and sometimes also
by incorporating direct control and/or blocking into the design of the experiment.

Illustration 2. In illustration 1, the calculus test example, the textbook used is

an extraneous variable because part of the differences in test results might be
attributed to this variable. We could control this variable directly, by requiring
that all sections use the same textbook. Then any observed differences
between temperature groups could not be explained by the use of different
textbooks. The extraneous variable time of day might also be directly
controlled in this way by having all sections meet at the same time.

The effects of some extraneous variables can be filtered out by a process

known as blocking. Extraneous variables that are addressed through blocking are
called blocking variables. Blocking creates groups (called blocks) that are similar
with respect to blocking variables; then all treatments are tried in each block.

Illustration 3. In illustration 1, we might use instructor as a blocking variable.

If five instructors are each teaching two sections of calculus, we would make
sure that for each instructor, one section was part of the
20° group and the other section was part of the 27° group. With this design, if
we see a difference in exam scores for the two temperature groups, the
extraneous variable instructor can be ruled out as a possible explanation,
because all five instructors’ students were present in each temperature group.
(Had we controlled the instructor variable by choosing to have only one
instructor, that would be an example of direct control.

If one instructor taught all the 20° sections and another taught all the 27°
sections, we would be unable to distinguish the effect of temperature from the effect
of the instructor. In this situation, the two variables (temperature and instructor) are
said to be confounded.

Definition 4.
Two variables are confounded if their effects on the response variable cannot be
distinguished from one another.

In Illustration 1, Calculus test, on the factors related to exam scores is the

student ability, which cannot be controlled by the experimenter and which would be
difficult to use as blocking variables. These extraneous variables are handled by the
use of random assignment to experimental groups.

7|Page
 ENGINEERING DATA ANALYSIS

Random assignment can be effective only if the number of subjects or

observations in each experimental condition (treatment) is large enough for each
experimental group to reliably reflect variability in the population.

Replication is the design strategy of making multiple observations for each

experimental condition. Together, replication and random assignment allow the
researcher to be reasonably confident of comparable experimental groups.
Definition 5.

Random Assignment. Random assignment (of subjects to treatments or of

treatments to trials) to ensure that the experiment does not systematically
favor one experimental condition (treatment) over another.

Blocking. Using extraneous variables to create groups (blocks) that are

similar. All experimental conditions (treatments) are then tried in each block.

Direct Control. Holding extraneous variables constant so that their effects

are not confounded with those of the experimental conditions (treatments).

Replication. Ensuring that there is an adequate number of observations for

each experimental condition.

Experimental designs in which experimental units are assigned at random to

treatments or in which treatments are assigned at random to trials are called
completely randomized designs. When blocking is used, the design is called a
randomized block design.

Figure 1 shows a diagram highlighting important features of some common

experimental designs. The structure of an experiment that is based on random
assignment of experimental units to one of two treatments. The diagram can be easily
adapted for an experiment with more than two treatments.

Figure 1. Diagram of an experiment with random assignment of

experimental units to two treatments
Source: Peck, R., Olsen, C. and Devore, J.L. (2012): Introduction to Statistics and Data
Analysis.

8|Page
 ENGINEERING DATA ANALYSIS

2.2 Use of Control Group

Many experiments compare a group that receives a particular treatment to a control

group that receives no treatment. The use of a control group allows the experimenter
to assess how the response variable behaves when the treatment is not used. This
provides a baseline against which the treatment groups can be compared to determine
whether the treatment had an effect.

Illustration 4. Suppose that a mechanical engineer wants to know whether a

gasoline additive increases fuel efficiency (kilometres per liter). Such an
experiment might use a single car (to eliminate car-to-car variability) and a
sequence of trials in which 1 liter of gas is put in an empty tank, the car is driven
around a racetrack at a constant speed, and the distance travelled on the liter
of gas is recorded. To determine whether the additive increases gas mileage, it
would be necessary to include a control group of trials in which distance
travelled was measured when gasoline without the additive was used. The trials
would be assigned at random to one of the two experimental conditions (additive
or no additive)

Even though this experiment consists of a sequence of trials all with the same
car, random assignment of trials to experimental conditions is still important because
there will always be uncontrolled variability. For example, temperature or other
environmental conditions might change over the sequence of trials, the physical
condition of the car might change slightly from one trial to another, and so on.

Random assignment of experimental conditions to trials will tend to even out

the effects of these uncontrollable factors

2.3 The Use of Placebo

In experiments that use human subjects, use of a control group may not be
enough to determine whether a treatment really does have an effect. People
sometimes respond merely to the power of suggestion.

Illustration 5. Suppose a study is conducted to determine whether a particular

herbal supplement is effective in promoting weight loss. An experimental group
was identified to be the group that takes the herbal supplement and a control
group that takes nothing. It is possible that those who take the herbal
supplement and believe that they are taking something that will help them to
lose weight may be more motivated and may unconsciously change their eating
behaviour or activity level, resulting in weight loss.

If an experiment is to enable researchers to determine whether a treatment

really has an effect, comparing a treatment group to a control group may not be
enough. To address the problem, many experiments use what is called a placebo.

9|Page
 ENGINEERING DATA ANALYSIS

Definition

A placebo is something that is identical (in appearance, taste, feel, etc.) to the
treatment received by the treatment group, except that it contains no active
ingredients.

As long as the subjects did not know whether they were taking the placebo,
the placebo group would provide a better basis for comparison and would allow the
researchers to determine whether the treatment had any real effect over and above the
―placebo effect.

Application: Exercise #3

1. The head of the quality control department at a printing company would like to
carry out an experiment to determine which of three different glues results in the
greatest binding strength. Although they are not of interest in the current
investigation, other factors thought to affect binding strength are the number of
pages in the book and whether the book is being bound as a paperback or a
hardback.
a. What is the response variable in this experiment?
b. What explanatory variable will determine the experimental conditions?
c. What two extraneous variables are mentioned in the problem description? Are
there other extraneous variables that should be considered?

2. A study of college students showed a temporary gain of up to 9 IQ points after

listening to a Mozart’s music. This conclusion, dubbed the Mozart effect, has
since been criticized by a number of researchers who have been unable to
confirm the result in similar studies. Suppose that you wanted to see whether
there is a Mozart effect for students at your school.

a. Describe how you might design an experiment for this purpose.

b. Does your experimental design include direct control of any extraneous
variables? Explain.
c. Does your experimental design use blocking? Explain why you did or did not
include blocking in your design.
d. What role does random assignment play in your design?

Closure
Congratulations! You have successfully completed the tasks and activities for
Lesson 3. It is expected that you are knowledgeable about obtaining data, through
survey and experiments.
You are almost done with this module. The module summary and assessment
will follow.

10 | P a g e
 ENGINEERING DATA ANALYSIS

SUMMARY

o Data collection and analysis process:

 Understanding the nature of the problem.
 Deciding what to measure and how to measure it.
 Data Collection
 Data summarization and preliminary analysis
 Formal data analysis
 Interpretation of results

o The entire collection of individuals or objects about which

information is desired is called the population of interest.
o A sample is a subset of the population, selected for study.
o A data set consisting of observations on a single characteristic is a
univariate data set.

o A univariate data set is categorical (or qualitative) if the

individual observations are categorical responses.

o A univariate data set is numerical (or quantitative) if each

observation is a number.
o Data collection techniques for survey
 Interviews
 Self-administered questionnaire
 Direct Observation
o An experiment is a study in which one or more explanatory
variables are manipulated in order to observe the effect on a
response variable.
o An experimental condition is any particular combination of
values for the explanatory variables. Experimental conditions are
also called treatments.

o An experimental unit is the smallest unit to which a treatment is

applied.

o The explanatory variables are those variables that have values

that are controlled by the experimenter. Also called independent
variable or factors

o The response variable is a variable that is not controlled by the

experimenter and that is measured as part of the experiment. Also
called dependent variable.

11 | P a g e
 ENGINEERING DATA ANALYSIS

ASSESSMENT

1. Two surveys were conducted to measure the effectiveness of an advertising

campaign for a low-fat brand of ice cream. In one of the surveys, the
interviewers visited the home and asked whether the low-fat brand ice cream
was purchased. In the other survey, the interviewers asked the person to show
them the ice cream container when the interviewee stated he or she had
purchased low-fat ice cream.
a. Do you think the two types of surveys will yield similar results on the
percentage of households using the product?
b. What types of biases may be introduced into each of the surveys?

2. The ―A‖ City school district is planning a survey of 300 of its 15, 000 parents
or guardians who have students currently enrolled. They want to assess the
parents’ opinion about mandatory drug testing of all students participating in
any extracurricular activities, not just . An alphabetical listing of all parents or
guardians is available for selecting the sample. In each of the following
descriptions of the method of selecting the 300 participants in the survey,
identify the type of sampling method used (simple random sampling, stratified
sampling, or cluster sampling).

a. Each name is randomly assigned a number. The names with numbers 1

through 300 are selected for the survey.

b. The schools are divided into five groups according to grade level
taught at the school:
Grade 6 –7, 8–9, 10 –12. Three separate sampling frames are constructed,
one for each group. A simple random sample of 100 parents or guardians is
selected from each group.

c. The school district is also concerned that the parent or guardian’s opinion
may differ depending on the age and sex of the student. Each name is
randomly assigned a number. The names with numbers 1 through 300 are
selected for the survey. The parent is asked to fill out a separate survey for
each of their currently enrolled children.

3. The major private university in the region is attempting to lobby to the

Commission on Higher Education that l would allow the university to charge a
higher tuition rate than the other universities in the country. To provide a
justification, the university plans to conduct a mail survey of its alumni to
collect information concerning their current employment status. The university
grants a wide variety of different degrees and wants to make sure that
information is obtained about graduates from each of the degree types. A 5%
sample of alumni is considered sufficient.
Decide what sampling method you would use. Provide an explanation of why
you selected a particular method of sampling.

12 | P a g e
 ENGINEERING DATA ANALYSIS

4. An experiment is planned to compare three types of schools—public, private-

nonparochial, and parochial—all with respect to the problem solving in
mathematics abilities of freshmen engineering. The researcher selects two
large cities in each of six provinces of Davao region for the study. In each
province, the researcher randomly selects one school of each of the three types
and randomly selects a single freshmen class within each school. The scores
on a standardized test are recorded for each of 20 students in each classroom.
The researcher is concerned about differences in family income levels among
the 30 schools, so she obtains the family income for each of the students who
participated in the study.
a. Identify the important features of the design.
b. Identify each of the following components of the experimental design.
i. factors
ii. factor levels
iii. blocks
iv. experimental unit
v. measurement unit
vi. replications
vii. treatments

13 | P a g e
 ENGINEERING DATA ANALYSIS

References

Broto, A.S. (2007). Simplified Approach to Inferential Statistics(1st ed.). National .

Philippines.

Carambas, Zenaida U(2011). Basic probability and Statistics. Valencia Educational

Supply. Baguio City

Peck, R., Olsen, C. and Devore, J.L. (2012): Introduction to Statistics and Data
Analysis(4th edition). Brooks/Cole/Cengage Learning, 20 Channel
Center Street Boston, MA 02210, USA

Ott, R.L., Longnecker, M. (2010). An Introduction to Statistical Methods and Data

Amalysis(6th ed). Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning, CA, USA.

Raussas, George(2003). Introduction to Probability and Statistical Inference.

Elseviere Science, USA

Walpole, RE, & Myers, RH.(1993). Probability and Statistics for Engineers and (5th
ed.). Macmillan Publishing Company, New York.

14 | P a g e