Randomized Controlled Trials in The Social Sciences
The use of RCTs in social sciences is a highly contested issue. Some writers from a medical or health background have argued that existing research in a range of social science disciplines lacks rigour, and should be improved by greater use of randomized control trials. The issue has been particularly controversial in transport studies, with some writers arguing that public spending on programmes such as school travel plans could not be justified unless their efficacy is demonstrated by randomized controlled trials. Graham-Rowe and colleagues reviewed 77 evaluations of transport interventions found in the literature, categorising them into 5 "quality levels". They concluded that most of the studies were of low quality and advocated the use of randomized controlled trials wherever possible in future transport research.
Melia took issue with these conclusions, arguing that claims about the advantages of RCTs, in establishing causality and avoiding bias, have been exaggerated. He proposed the following 8 criteria for the use of RCTs in contexts where interventions must change human behaviour to be effective:
The intervention:
- Has not been applied to all members of a unique group of people (e.g. the population of a whole country, all employees of a unique organisation etc.)
- Is applied in a context or setting similar to that which applies to the control group
- Can be isolated from other activities – and the purpose of the study is to assess this isolated effect
- Has a short timescale between its implementation and maturity of its effects
And the causal mechanisms:
- Are either known to the researchers, or else all possible alternatives can be tested
- Do not involve significant feedback mechanisms between the intervention group and external environments
- Have a stable and predictable relationship to exogenous factors
- Would act in the same way if the control group and intervention group were reversed
Read more about this topic: Randomized Controlled Trial
Famous quotes containing the words controlled, trials, social and/or sciences:
“A theory of the middle class: that it is not to be determined by its financial situation but rather by its relation to government. That is, one could shade down from an actual ruling or governing class to a class hopelessly out of relation to government, thinking of gov’t as beyond its control, of itself as wholly controlled by gov’t. Somewhere in between and in gradations is the group that has the sense that gov’t exists for it, and shapes its consciousness accordingly.”
—Lionel Trilling (1905–1975)
“Without trials and tribulations, no one can become a Buddha.”
—Chinese proverb.
“The social forces that operate on a family during the daughter’s formative years continue to shape her experience. Thus the families, schools, and jobs that involve poor women are likely to be very hierarchically arranged, demanding conformity, passivity, and obedience—all unsupportive of continued intellectual growth.”
—Mary Field Belenky (20th century)
“Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting the progress of the arts and the sciences and a flourishing culture in our land.”
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976)