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More powerful cluster randomized control trials
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Balanced experimental designs, in which the number of treatment and control units are the same, do not maximize power subject to a cost constraint when treat-ment units are more expensive than control ones. Despite this, such balanced designs are the norm in economics. This paper describes methods to optimally choose the number of treatment and control clusters, and the number of units within treatment and control clusters, allowing for full flexibility. We use three archetypal examples from the development literature to illustrate the magnitude of the power gains, which lie between 8.5 and 19 percentage points.
Authors
Research Fellow University College London
Marcos is a Research Fellow at IFS, an Affiliate at the Rural Education Action Program and a Professor of Economics at the University College London.
Brendon McConnell
Working Paper details
- DOI
- 10.1920/wp.ifs.2022.2222
- Publisher
- Institute for Fiscal Studies
Suggested citation
McConnell, B and Vera-Hernandez, M. (2022). More powerful cluster randomized control trials. London: Institute for Fiscal Studies. Available at: https://ifs.org.uk/publications/more-powerful-cluster-randomized-control-trials (accessed: 4 May 2024).
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