Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0470711000 ISBN 13: 9780470711002

Publisher: Wiley, 2010

A cluster randomization trial is one in which intact social units, or clusters of individuals, are randomized to different intervention groups. Trials randomizing clusters have become particularly widespread in the evaluation of non-therapeutic interventions, including lifestyle modification, educational programmes and innovations in the provision of health care. The increasing popularity of this design among health researchers over the past two decades has led to an extensive body of methodology on the subject. This is the first book to present a systematic and united treatment of this topic; it contains distinctive chapters on the history of cluster randomized trials, ethical issues and reporting guidelines.

About the Author:

Allan Donner is Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Western Ontario, Canada.

Neil Klar is Senior Biostatician in the Division of Preventive Oncology, Cancer Care Ontario, Canada.

Review:

"The authors of this book cover an important area of statistical application infrequently discussed in biostatistics texts, namely methods appropriate to situations where the experimental units are groups of people instead of individuals. The stated purpose is to bring to the biostatistical community an understanding of cluster randomization methods. ... The authors have done a very good job of explaining why traditional methods are inappropriate and they provide discussion of several alternative analyses that can be used to generate more appropriate results at both the cluster and individual levels. ... [T]he coverage is understandable to those without a great deal of rigorous background in statistics and so it is fair to say that the book is not written for experts. ... This particular book fills an important void in the biostatistics area specifically because it is written in way that is understandable to a group of people who need to learn about the issues discussed."--Doody's