Hello,
I designed a study with 5 factors (week, lot, etc.) for two different labs, and one of the labs followed the design out of order. They still completed all the parts of the study and the design is still balanced, they just switched the order of the design for weeks 2 and 3. I am analyzing the data for both labs combined. So lab 1 ran the design in order of weeks 1-2-3-4, but lab 2 ran the design in order of weeks 1-3-2-4 (per the planned design). I analyzed the data in 2 ways: once keeping the true week numbers that were performed, and once overwriting the lab 2 data to follow the design (swapping the data for weeks 2 and 3, so it looks like they ran the design in the correct 1-2-3-4 order). I did not think this switch would have an impact on the REML variance component analysis results, since all parts were still completed and the design is still balanced, but the variance component estimates and percentages are slightly different between the two analyses.
Can someone explain to me why the variance component estimates would be different when I'm just switching the order of the weeks? Isn't the variability attributable to week assessed in the same way?
Thank you!
