Design Express is an easy-to-use PC Windows package that integrates with Compusense® five to deliver statistically valid designs specifically tailored for the consumer or sensory scientist.
Have you ever tried to design a fully-balanced round-robin experiment? Are your designs balanced for carry-over effects and order effects? Have you ever tried to balance order of trial in an incomplete block design from a textbook? Design Express is the answer to all of these problems and more.
Design Express has been designed by statisticians for use by non-statisticians. At the touch of a button, the software chooses from a wide range of designs for single and multi-session experiments.
Easy to use:
- PC Windows format
- Easy specification of requirements
- “Blinding” codes generated randomly in a variety of formats or can use existing samples codes
- Designs can be copied directly into Excel, with its associated functionality
- Designs can be saved for import to sensory data collection packages
- Design properties can be readily inspected: order, concurrence, carry over
Main features:
- Complete block designs for single or multi-session experiments
- Incomplete presentation designs for single or multi-session experiments
- Designs that have balance for presentation order effects
- Designs that have balance for carry-over effects
- The software draws from a comprehensive library of over 400 balanced incomplete block designs
- Optimal search algorithms for best possible balance when library designs are not available
- Allows designs with up to 51 samples and 435 consumers
A unique feature of Design Express is the ability to construct appropriate designs when a complete set of samples is presented to all consumers over a number of sessions.
For example in the view of the "IBD Selector" screen, the user has specified there are 12 samples and that a design is required for somewhere between 122 and 152 consumers. The list of designs on the left indicates a range of resolvable balanced incomplete block designs exist all for 132 consumers.
In particular, the desired multi-session experiment may be achieved in four different ways, either presenting:
- 2 samples in each of 6 sessions (~6)
- 3 samples in each of 4 sessions
- 4 samples in each of 3 sessions or finally,
- 6 samples in each of 2 sessions.
The user highlights the "present 4" samples design, checks "Expand" to spread the full set of 12 samples over three sessions and finally requests it to have order and carry-over balance.
Note: If 132 consumers are not suitable for some reason, using the optimal search method, you can select from a much wider variety of designs.
Interested in more information? Contact us.
