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Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have historically been regarded as the gold standard for evaluating medical interventions. Evidence-based medicine (EBM) developed […]
Over the last three decades randomized trials have become an increasingly popular way of testing interventions designed to address developmental challenges. But do RCTs generate reliable results – or even retard progress?
When Angus Deaton crafted the term ‘randomista’ to denigrate the rampant use of randomized controlled trials in development economics, Angus Leigh saw an opportunity to make lemonade out of lemons. In this Social Science Bites podcasts he explains how he turned randomista into a compliment and promotes the use of trials to improve social programs worldwide.
Although the value of Randomised Controlled Trials in very specific contexts cannot be denied, any imperialist claims for its universal applicability and its use as a bench mark against which all other studies must to be measured needs to be challenged.
