What are RCT’s?
RCT’s are a type of experimental design where participants are randomly assigned to a treatment and control group. The treatment group receives the intervention (treatment) while the control group does not. These two groups are then compared to see the impact of the intervention on the outcome of interest. The goal of RCT’s is to identify the causal effect of a certain intervention on an outcome of interest while accounting for endogeneity.
Benefits and Drawbacks of RCT’s
One of the benefits of RCT’s is that they account for other variables that may be related to the independent and dependent variable, which allows RCT’s to establish causality. They also allow for studies to separate causation from correlation.
Some drawbacks of RCT’s are that they are expensive to carry out and sometimes are impractical, as some interventions are not possible. Some opportunities for carrying out RCT’s may also be unethical.
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