Introduction to Randomized Trials

MIT’s Josh Angrist introduces us to our most powerful weapon: randomized trials! Randomized trials originate in medical research, where they’re called “randomized clinical trials” or “RCTs.” That’s why randomized trials are said to measure “treatment effects”. Along the way, Master Joshway explains how a randomized trial conducted at the US Military Academy reveals the hidden costs of classroom electronics. In this video, we cover the following:

• The difference between control and treatment groups
• Checking for balance
• The Law of Large Numbers
• Treatment effects
• Standard errors and statistical significance