Random Assignment - History

History

Randomization was emphasized in the theory of statistical inference of Charles S. Peirce in "Illustrations of the Logic of Science" (1877–1878) and "A Theory of Probable Inference" (1883). Peirce applied randomization in the Peirce-Jastrow experiment on weight perception.

Charles S. Peirce randomly assigned volunteers to a blinded, repeated-measures design to evaluate their ability to discriminate weights. Peirce's experiment inspired other researchers in psychology and education, which developed a research tradition of randomized experiments in laboratories and specialized textbooks in the eighteen-hundreds.

Jerzy Neyman advocated randomization in survey sampling (1934) and in experiments (1923). Ronald A. Fisher advocated randomization in his book on experimental design (1935).

Read more about this topic:  Random Assignment

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    I believe that history might be, and ought to be, taught in a new fashion so as to make the meaning of it as a process of evolution intelligible to the young.
    Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)

    The history of the Victorian Age will never be written: we know too much about it.
    Lytton Strachey (1880–1932)

    When the history of this period is written, [William Jennings] Bryan will stand out as one of the most remarkable men of his generation and one of the biggest political men of our country.
    William Howard Taft (1857–1930)