Pareto Chart of the Effects
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Use a Pareto chart of the effects to determine the magnitude and the importance of an effect. The chart displays the absolute value of the effects and draws a reference line on the chart. Any effect that extends past this reference line is statistically significant.

The method Minitab uses depends on whether an error term exists:

·    If no error term exists, Minitab uses Lenth's method [5] to draw the line and displays the unstandardized effects.

·    If an error term exists, Minitab uses the corresponding p-value that is shown in the Session window to identify important effects and displays the standardized effects. The reference line corresponds to a = 0.05, by default. You can change the a-level by changing the confidence level in the Options subdialog box or by setting a in the Stepwise subdialog box.

This plot shows that terms A, B, and AB are significant.

Note

If the standard errors of the coefficients are zero, Minitab does not display the reference line on the Pareto plot.