Inference with Imperfect Randomization: The Case of the Perry Preschool Program

James Heckman, Rodrigo Pinto, Azeem Shaikh and Adam Yavitz ()
Additional contact information
Adam Yavitz: University of Chicago

No 5625, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper considers the problem of making inferences about the effects of a program on multiple outcomes when the assignment of treatment status is imperfectly randomized. By imperfect randomization we mean that treatment status is reassigned after an initial randomization on the basis of characteristics that may be observed or unobserved by the analyst. We develop a partial identification approach to this problem that makes use of information limiting the extent to which randomization is imperfect to show that it is still possible to make nontrivial inferences about the effects of the program in such settings. We consider a family of null hypotheses in which each null hypothesis specifies that the program has no effect on one of several outcomes of interest. Under weak assumptions, we construct a procedure for testing this family of null hypotheses in a way that controls the familywise error rate – the probability of even one false rejection – infinite samples. We develop our methodology in the context of a reanalysis of the HighScope Perry Preschool program. We find statistically significant effects of the program on a number of different outcomes of interest, including outcomes related to criminal activity for males and females, even after accounting for the imperfectness of the randomization and the multiplicity of null hypotheses.

Keywords: multiple testing; multiple outcomes; randomized trial; randomization tests; imperfect randomization; Perry Preschool Program; program evaluation; familywise error rate; exact inference; partial identification (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C31 I21 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2011-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ecm
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (23)

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp5625.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Inference with Imperfect Randomization: The Case of the Perry Preschool Program (2020)
Working Paper: Inference with Imperfect Randomization: The Case of the Perry Preschool Program (2011)
Working Paper: Inference with Imperfect Randomization: The Case of the Perry Preschool Program (2010)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5625

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().