Optimal designs in growth curve models .1. Correlated model for linear growth: Optimal designs for slope parameter estimation and growth prediction

Ln the present paper we discuss the situation for a linear growth with correlated structure of the errors and indicate the nature of optimal designs for estimation and prediction problems. We study the intraclass structure of the error distribution. As regards estimation of the slope parameter, we look for robust optimal designs. Here robustness means that optimality should hold for a large variety of correlation parameters. The robust optimal designs for the prediction problem center around a performance measure of the predictors for all design points simultaneously. We have also studied the autocorrelated error structure and found similar results which are reported very briefly. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.