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Main Authors: Yang, Ying, Shi, Chengchun, Yao, Fang, Wang, Shouyang, Zhu, Hongtu
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.11400
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author Yang, Ying
Shi, Chengchun
Yao, Fang
Wang, Shouyang
Zhu, Hongtu
author_facet Yang, Ying
Shi, Chengchun
Yao, Fang
Wang, Shouyang
Zhu, Hongtu
contents This article studies the benefits of using spatially randomized experimental designs which partition the experimental area into distinct, non-overlapping units with treatments assigned randomly. Such designs offer improved policy evaluation in online experiments by providing more precise policy value estimators and more effective A/B testing algorithms than traditional global designs, which apply the same treatment across all units simultaneously. We examine both parametric and nonparametric methods for estimating and inferring policy values based on this randomized approach. Our analysis includes evaluating the mean squared error of the treatment effect estimator and the statistical power of the associated tests. Additionally, we extend our findings to experiments with spatio-temporal dependencies, where treatments are allocated sequentially over time, and account for potential temporal carryover effects. Our theoretical insights are supported by comprehensive numerical experiments.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2403_11400
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Spatially Randomized Designs Can Enhance Policy Evaluation
Yang, Ying
Shi, Chengchun
Yao, Fang
Wang, Shouyang
Zhu, Hongtu
Statistics Theory
This article studies the benefits of using spatially randomized experimental designs which partition the experimental area into distinct, non-overlapping units with treatments assigned randomly. Such designs offer improved policy evaluation in online experiments by providing more precise policy value estimators and more effective A/B testing algorithms than traditional global designs, which apply the same treatment across all units simultaneously. We examine both parametric and nonparametric methods for estimating and inferring policy values based on this randomized approach. Our analysis includes evaluating the mean squared error of the treatment effect estimator and the statistical power of the associated tests. Additionally, we extend our findings to experiments with spatio-temporal dependencies, where treatments are allocated sequentially over time, and account for potential temporal carryover effects. Our theoretical insights are supported by comprehensive numerical experiments.
title Spatially Randomized Designs Can Enhance Policy Evaluation
topic Statistics Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.11400