More Powerful Cluster Randomized Controlled Trials

2025/11/12 by Brendon McConnell, Marcos Vera‐Hernández · 1 voice
Decision Sciences · Mathematics · #Advanced Causal Inference Techniques #Optimal Experimental Design Methods #Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials

paper · doi:10.1086/739610

openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex publication_date 2025/11/12 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22

Abstract

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 treatment 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 7.9 and 19.0 percentage points.

Citations

• Six Decades of Top Economics Publishing: Who and How?

Discussions

• Need to compute sample sizes for a cluster randomized control trial where treatment costs more than control? @brendonmcconnell.bsky.social and I have a paper to help you maximize power or minimize c [bsky, 1 points, 0 comments]

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