The Core Analytics of Randomized Experiments for Social Research
This paper examines the core analytic elements of randomized experiments for social research. Its goal is to provide a compact discussion for faculty members, graduate students, and applied researchers of the design and analysis of randomized experiments for measuring the impacts of social or educational interventions. Design issues considered include choosing the size of a study sample and its allocation to experimental groups, using covariates or blocking to improve the precision of impact estimates, and randomizing intact groups instead of individuals. Analysis issues considered include estimating impacts when not all sample members comply with their assigned treatment and estimating impacts when groups are randomized.