The Practicalities of Running Randomized Evaluations: Partnerships, Measurement, Ethics, and Transparency

Abstract A number of critical innovations spurred the rapid expansion in the use of field experiments by academics. Some of these were econometric but many were intensely practical. Researchers learned how to work with a wide range of implementing organizations from small, local nongovernmental organizations to large government bureaucracies. They improved data collection techniques and switched to digital data collection. As researchers got more involved in the design and implementation of the interventions they tested, new ethical issues arose. Finally, the dramatic rise in the use of experiments increased the benefits associated with research transparency. This chapter records some of these practical innovations. It focuses on how to select and effectively work with the organization running an intervention which is being evaluated; ways to minimize attrition, monitor enumerators, and ensure data are collected consistently in treatment and comparison areas; practical ethical issues such as when to start the ethics approval process; and research transparency, including how to prevent publication bias and data mining and the role of experimental registries, preanalysis plans, data publication reanalysis, and replication efforts.