A note on blinded continuous monitoring for continuous outcomes

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Xu, Long-Hao, Friede, Tim
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Xu, Long-Hao
Friede, Tim
author_facet Xu, Long-Hao
Friede, Tim
contents Continuous monitoring is becoming more popular due to its significant benefits, including reducing sample sizes and reaching earlier conclusions. In general, it involves monitoring nuisance parameters (e.g., the variance of outcomes) until a specific condition is satisfied. The blinded method, which does not require revealing group assignments, was recommended because it maintains the integrity of the experiment and mitigates potential bias. Although Friede and Miller (2012) investigated the characteristics of blinded continuous monitoring through simulation studies, its theoretical properties are not fully explored. In this paper, we aim to fill this gap by presenting the asymptotic and finite-sample properties of the blinded continuous monitoring for continuous outcomes. Furthermore, we examine the impact of using blinded versus unblinded variance estimators in the context of continuous monitoring. Simulation results are also provided to evaluate finite-sample performance and to support the theoretical findings.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_22202
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A note on blinded continuous monitoring for continuous outcomes
Xu, Long-Hao
Friede, Tim
Statistics Theory
Methodology
Continuous monitoring is becoming more popular due to its significant benefits, including reducing sample sizes and reaching earlier conclusions. In general, it involves monitoring nuisance parameters (e.g., the variance of outcomes) until a specific condition is satisfied. The blinded method, which does not require revealing group assignments, was recommended because it maintains the integrity of the experiment and mitigates potential bias. Although Friede and Miller (2012) investigated the characteristics of blinded continuous monitoring through simulation studies, its theoretical properties are not fully explored. In this paper, we aim to fill this gap by presenting the asymptotic and finite-sample properties of the blinded continuous monitoring for continuous outcomes. Furthermore, we examine the impact of using blinded versus unblinded variance estimators in the context of continuous monitoring. Simulation results are also provided to evaluate finite-sample performance and to support the theoretical findings.
title A note on blinded continuous monitoring for continuous outcomes
topic Statistics Theory
Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.22202