Place Randomized Trials: Experimental Tests of Public Policy

The phrase "evidence-based policy" is frequently used, but it′s crucial that such claims are scrutinized and validated. When the data on social and behavioral interventions are presented, high-quality evidence must be clearly defined and the methodology behind such studies held to rigorous standards.

Both the Cochrane Collaboration –focusing on healthcare – and the international Campbell Collaboration – concentrating on criminal justice, education, and social services – were   created to develop, maintain and improve detailed guidelines for producing high-quality systematic reviews. And both organizations emphasize randomized controlled trials to evaluate the effectiveness of various interventions.

As a springboard from the Campbell Collaboration initiative and supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, this special issue of The Annals includes a thorough review of randomized tests across a variety of studies. Exploring significant dimensions of place randomized trials (also called cluster randomized trials or group randomized trials), these papers shed light on recent efforts to enhance the quality of designing such trials as well as on results reporting.

The research topics included in this volume are diverse. Taken together, these papers offer important insight into the nuts and bolts of conducting randomized trials: the significance of place in trials; how such studies are initiated; the incentives and justifications needed by participants; how to overcome challenges of implementation; and where to find out what studies have already been conducted or are currently underway.

While providing far-reaching insight into the topic of randomized testing, these papers also identify new issues and key questions to be further addressed in future research. Scholars and policymakers alike will find this collection of rigorous research essential in understanding the implications of current evidence-based policies as well as a guidepost for designing and conducting new studies.

Before coming to the University of Pennsylvania in 1989, Dr. Boruch was a member of Northwestern University’s faculty. He has served on the Board of Trustees for the W. T. Grant Foundation and the Board of Advisors for the National Science Foundation’s Education and Human Resources Division. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the American Institutes for Research. He has served on advisory committees for the U.S. Department of Education, Government Accountability Office, National Center for Educational Statistics, National Institutes of Health, and other federal agencies. He has served on advisory committees for the U.S. Department of Education, Government Accountability Office, National Center for Educational Statistics, National Institutes of Health, and other federal agencies. He has most recently served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Field Evaluation of Behavioral and Cognitive Science Based Methods and Tools for Intelligence and Counter Intelligence, and has served on numerous NAS committees including on AIDS Prevention Programs, Noise Impact of the Concorde, Privacy in the U.S Census, and Scientific Principles in Education Research. Dr. Boruch is also on the advisory boards of the Coalition for Evidence Based Policy and the Board of Directors of the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness and serves on the editorial boards of Evaluation Review, Journal of Experimental Criminology, and the Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness.

Dr. Boruch is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Academy for Experimental Criminology, the American Educational Research Association, and the American Statistical Association. He has been a senior fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford) and at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Study Center and a visiting fellow at research centers in Berlin, Mannheim, and Munich. He has also received awards for his work from the American Educational Research Association, the Policy Sciences Organization, the American Evaluation Association, and the international Campbell Collaboration. The Campbell Collaboration has named an award in his honor for individuals who contribute to the use of better evidence in policy.