Screening experiments and the use of fractional factorial designs in behavioral intervention research.
Health behavior intervention studies have focused primarily on comparing new programs and existing programs via randomized controlled trials. However, numbers of possible components (factors) are increasing dramatically as a result of developments in science and technology (e.g., Web-based surveys). These changes dictate the need for alternative methods that can screen and quickly identify a large set of potentially important treatment components. We have developed and implemented a multiphase experimentation strategy for accomplishing this goal. We describe the screening phase of this strategy and the use of fractional factorial designs (FFDs) in studying several components economically. We then use 2 ongoing behavioral intervention projects to illustrate the usefulness of FFDs. FFDs should be supplemented with follow-up experiments in the refining phase so any critical assumptions about interactions can be verified.
Nair
Vijay
V
Department of Statistics, University of Michigan, 439 West Hall, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. vnn@umich.edu
Strecher
Victor
V
Fagerlin
Angela
A
Ubel
Peter
P
Resnicow
Kenneth
K
Murphy
Susan
S
Little
Roderick
R
Chakraborty
Bibhas
B
Zhang
Aijun
A
D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001699:Biometry / Q000379:methods; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D015987:Effect Modifier, Epidemiologic; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D013629:Tamoxifen / Q000627:therapeutic use
D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal; D013629:Tamoxifen