The experimental design, based on statistical fundamentals, is undoubtedly a powerful tool to obtain optimized process conditions, for the development of product formulations within the desired specifications or simply to evaluate the effects or impacts that certain factors have on expected responses.
Scientists and engineers devote valuable time and resources to experimental investi- gations. Why do experiments? In the first place, scientific and technical advances rely on the support that a critical experiment, or series of experiments, can offer. New and established theories are tested through experiment. Devising and carrying out an experiment that provides a thorough test of a theory or confirmation of a discovery may be challenging, but until such a test is undertaken, and the results are confirmed independently by others, the theory or the discovery is unlikely to gain wide acceptance. Additionally, carefully performed experiments may reveal new effects that require existing explanations to be modified or perhaps abandoned completely.
Experimentation is one of the most common activities that people engage in. It covers a wide range of applications from household activities like food preparation to technological innovation in material science, semiconductors, robotics, life sci- ence, and so on. It allows an investigator to find out what happens to the output or response when the settings of the input variables in a system are purposely changed. Statistical or often simple graphical analysis can then be used to study the relation- ship between the input and output values. A better understanding of how the input variables affect the performance of a system can thereby be achieved. This gain in knowledge provides a basis for selecting optimum input settings. Experimental design is a body of knowledge and techniques that enables an investigator to con- duct better experiments, analyze data efficiently, and make the connections between the conclusions from the analysis and the original objectives of the investigation.
Wikipedia
Thought experimentis a hypothetical situation in which a hypothesis, theory, or principle is laid out for the purpose of thinking through its consequences.
Trial and erroris a fundamental method of problem-solving characterized by repeated, varied attempts which are continued until success, or until the practicer stops trying.