arXivDaily arXiv每日学术速递 周一至周五更新
arXiv 1412.5000stat.MEstat.AP
收藏

处理效应变异的随机化推断

Randomization Inference for Treatment Effect Variation

Peng Ding, Avi Feller, Luke Miratrix

摘要:

应用研究人员越来越感兴趣的是,在随机评价中,处理效应是否以及如何变化,特别是观察到的协变量无法解释的变化。我们提出了一种无模型的方法来测试这种无法解释的变化的存在。为了使用这种基于随机化的方法,我们必须解决这样一个事实,即平均处理效应,通常是随机化实验中感兴趣的对象,实际上在这种设置中充当了一个讨厌的参数。我们探索潜在的解决方案,并提倡一种方法,保证有效的测试,尽管这种滋扰有限的样本。我们还展示了这种方法如何容易地扩展到测试的异质性超出了一个给定的模型,这可能是有用的评估一个给定的科学理论的充分性。最后,我们将我们的方法应用于全国领先影响研究,一个大规模的联邦学前教育计划的随机评估,发现确实有显着的无法解释的处理效应的变化。

英文摘要:

Applied researchers are increasingly interested in whether and how treatment effects vary in randomized evaluations, especially variation not explained by observed covariates. We propose a model-free approach for testing for the presence of such unexplained variation. To use this randomization-based approach, we must address the fact that the average treatment effect, generally the object of interest in randomized experiments, actually acts as a nuisance parameter in this setting. We explore potential solutions and advocate for a method that guarantees valid tests in finite samples despite this nuisance. We also show how this method readily extends to testing for heterogeneity beyond a given model, which can be useful for assessing the sufficiency of a given scientific theory. We finally apply our method to the National Head Start Impact Study, a large-scale randomized evaluation of a Federal preschool program, finding that there is indeed significant unexplained treatment effect variation.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

↑