Hitachi: True Experimental Design

As mentioned in previous reports, Hitachi Automotive Products, Los Angeles (HAPLA) is a major supplier and producer of remanufactured (remanned) alternators, starters and other electromechanical automotive parts. A vital part of providing the quality product that has earned HAP-LA a high reputation is the consistent quality assurance testing that takes place throughout the production process. In order to conduct a proper quality assurance test on a product, experimental design research must occasionally be applied to determine if there is a problem in the product and the source of the problem.
True Experimental Design Research
"Experiments are studies involving intervention by the researcher beyond that required for measurement" (Cooper & Schindler, 2002, p. 381). Essentially, this means that the researcher conducting the study manipulates one variable, the independent variable, to observe the effect on the dependent variable and analyzes that data that is provided from this manipulation. Several different methods of experiments can be utilized to find the outcome, including experiment versus control, random sampling, random assignment, and double blind (Wu, 2002a).
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