Randomized Experiments in Education: Assessing the Objections to Doing Them

Thomas D. Cook

Economics of Innovation and New Technology, 2007, vol. 16, issue 5, 331-355

Abstract: This article analyzes a variety of reasons that are offered within the community of educational researchers to explain why so few randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have been undertaken. The article suggests strategies for dealing with most of these objections. However, some of these objections are serious enough, and the remedies sufficiently incomplete, that it is difficult to call RCTs the 'gold standard' of causal inference in the educational sector.

Keywords: Random assignment; Educational research; Causal inference (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
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DOI: 10.1080/10438590600982335

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