The RSREG Procedure

Covariate regressors are added to a response surface model because they are believed to account for a sizable yet relatively uninteresting portion of the variation in the data. What the experimenter is really interested in is the response corrected for the effect of the covariates. A common example is the block effect in a block design. In the canonical and ridge analyses of a response surface, which estimate responses at hypothetical levels of the factor variables, the actual value of the predicted response is computed by using the average values of the covariates. The estimated response values do optimize the estimated surface of the response corrected for covariates, but true prediction of the response requires actual values for the covariates. You can use the COVAR= option in the MODEL statement to include covariates in the response surface model. Example 81.2 illustrates the use of this option.