An evaluation of constrained randomization for the design and analysis of group-randomized trials with binary outcomes.

ABSTRACT: Group-randomized trials are randomized studies that allocate intact groups of individuals to different comparison arms. A frequent practical limitation to adopting such research designs is that only a limited number of groups may be available, and therefore, simple randomization is unable to adequately balance multiple group-level covariates between arms. Therefore, covariate-based constrained randomization was proposed as an allocation technique to achieve balance. Constrained randomization involves generating a large number of possible allocation schemes, calculating a balance score that assesses covariate imbalance, limiting the randomization space to a prespecified percentage of candidate allocations, and randomly selecting one scheme to implement. When the outcome is binary, a number

SUBMITTER: Li F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5624845 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature