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Autori principali: Tipton, Elizabeth, Mamakos, Michalis
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2023
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Accesso online:https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.18500
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author Tipton, Elizabeth
Mamakos, Michalis
author_facet Tipton, Elizabeth
Mamakos, Michalis
contents Typically, a randomized experiment is designed to test a hypothesis about the average treatment effect and sometimes hypotheses about treatment effect variation. The results of such a study may then be used to inform policy and practice for units not in the study. In this paper, we argue that given this use, randomized experiments should instead be designed to predict unit-specific treatment effects in a well-defined population. We then consider how different sampling processes and models affect the bias, variance, and mean squared prediction error of these predictions. The results indicate, for example, that problems of generalizability (differences between samples and populations) can greatly affect bias both in predictive models and in measures of error in these models. We also examine when the average treatment effect estimate outperforms unit-specific treatment effect predictive models and implications of this for planning studies.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2310_18500
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Designing Randomized Experiments to Predict Unit-Specific Treatment Effects
Tipton, Elizabeth
Mamakos, Michalis
Methodology
Typically, a randomized experiment is designed to test a hypothesis about the average treatment effect and sometimes hypotheses about treatment effect variation. The results of such a study may then be used to inform policy and practice for units not in the study. In this paper, we argue that given this use, randomized experiments should instead be designed to predict unit-specific treatment effects in a well-defined population. We then consider how different sampling processes and models affect the bias, variance, and mean squared prediction error of these predictions. The results indicate, for example, that problems of generalizability (differences between samples and populations) can greatly affect bias both in predictive models and in measures of error in these models. We also examine when the average treatment effect estimate outperforms unit-specific treatment effect predictive models and implications of this for planning studies.
title Designing Randomized Experiments to Predict Unit-Specific Treatment Effects
topic Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.18500