Treatment effect estimation under covariate-adaptive randomization with heavy-tailed outcomes

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Li, Hongzi, Ma, Wei, Ma, Yingying, Liu, Hanzhong
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2024
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author Li, Hongzi
Ma, Wei
Ma, Yingying
Liu, Hanzhong
author_facet Li, Hongzi
Ma, Wei
Ma, Yingying
Liu, Hanzhong
contents Randomized experiments are the gold standard for investigating causal relationships, with comparisons of potential outcomes under different treatment groups used to estimate treatment effects. However, outcomes with heavy-tailed distributions pose significant challenges to traditional statistical approaches. While recent studies have explored these issues under simple randomization, their application in more complex randomization designs, such as stratified randomization or covariate-adaptive randomization, has not been adequately addressed. To fill the gap, this paper examines the properties of the estimated influence function-based M-estimator under covariate-adaptive randomization with heavy-tailed outcomes, demonstrating its consistency and asymptotic normality. Yet, the existing variance estimator tends to overestimate the asymptotic variance, especially under more balanced designs, and lacks universal applicability across randomization methods. To remedy this, we introduce a novel stratified transformed difference-in-means estimator to enhance efficiency and propose a universally applicable variance estimator to facilitate valid inferences. Additionally, we establish the consistency of kernel-based density estimation in the context of covariate-adaptive randomization. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods in finite samples.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2407_05001
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Treatment effect estimation under covariate-adaptive randomization with heavy-tailed outcomes
Li, Hongzi
Ma, Wei
Ma, Yingying
Liu, Hanzhong
Methodology
Randomized experiments are the gold standard for investigating causal relationships, with comparisons of potential outcomes under different treatment groups used to estimate treatment effects. However, outcomes with heavy-tailed distributions pose significant challenges to traditional statistical approaches. While recent studies have explored these issues under simple randomization, their application in more complex randomization designs, such as stratified randomization or covariate-adaptive randomization, has not been adequately addressed. To fill the gap, this paper examines the properties of the estimated influence function-based M-estimator under covariate-adaptive randomization with heavy-tailed outcomes, demonstrating its consistency and asymptotic normality. Yet, the existing variance estimator tends to overestimate the asymptotic variance, especially under more balanced designs, and lacks universal applicability across randomization methods. To remedy this, we introduce a novel stratified transformed difference-in-means estimator to enhance efficiency and propose a universally applicable variance estimator to facilitate valid inferences. Additionally, we establish the consistency of kernel-based density estimation in the context of covariate-adaptive randomization. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods in finite samples.
title Treatment effect estimation under covariate-adaptive randomization with heavy-tailed outcomes
topic Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.05001