A review of undergraduate courses in Design of Experiments offered by American universities

Abstract

Design of Experiments (DoE) is a relevant class to undergraduate programs in the sciences, because it teaches students how to plan, conduct, and analyze experiments. In the literature on DoE, there are several contributions to its pedagogy, such as easy-to-use class experiments, virtual experiments, and software for constructing experimental designs. However, there are virtually no systematic assessments of the actual DoE pedagogy. To address this issue, we build the first database of undergraduate DoE courses offered in the United States of America. The database has records on courses offered from 2019 to 2022 by the best universities in the US News Best National Universities ranking of 2022. Specifically, it has data on 18 general and content-specific features of 206 courses. To study the DoE pedagogy, we analyze the database using descriptive statistics and text mining. Our main findings include that most undergraduate DoE courses follow the textbook “Design of and Analysis of Experiments” by Douglas Montgomery, use the R software, and emphasize the learning of multifactor designs, randomization restrictions, data analysis, and applications. Based on our analysis, we provide instructors with recommendations and teaching material to enhance their DoE courses. The database and material are included in the supplementary material.