Unbiased Estimation of the Average Treatment Effect in Cluster-Randomized Experiments

Author(s): 

Joel A. Middleton and Peter M. Aronow

ISPS ID: 
ISPS15-029
Full citation: 
Middleton, Joel A. and Peter M. Aronow (201). Unbiased Estimation of the Average Treatment Effect in Cluster-Randomized Experiments. Statistics, Politics and Policy 6(1-2): 39–75. DOI: 10.1515/spp-2013-0002
Abstract: 
Many estimators of the average treatment effect, including the difference-in-means, may be biased when clusters of units are allocated to treatment. This bias remains even when the number of units within each cluster grows asymptotically large. In this paper, we propose simple, unbiased, location-invariant, and covariate-adjusted estimators of the average treatment effect in experiments with random allocation of clusters, along with associated variance estimators. We then analyze a cluster-randomized field experiment on voter mobilization in the US, demonstrating that the proposed estimators have precision that is comparable, if not superior, to that of existing, biased estimators of the average treatment effect.
Supplemental information: 

Link to article here.

Publication date: 
2015
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