Randomization of clusters versus randomization of persons within clusters: Which is preferable?

American Statistician

Volumn 59, Issue 2, 2005, Pages 173-179

  Moerbeek, Mirjam ^a  

^a UTRECHT UNIVERSITY   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

Experimental design; Intervention study; Intra cluster correlation coefficient; Nested data; Relative efficiency

Indexed keywords

EID: 18144429882     PISSN: 00031305     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1198/000313005X43542     Document Type: Article

References (17)

1. Ausems, M., Mesters, I., Van Breukelen, G., and De Vries, H. (2002), "Short-Term Effects of a Randomized Computer-Based Out-of-School Smoking Prevention Trial Aimed at Elementary School Children," Preventive Medicine, 34, 581-589.
2. Bach, D., Van den Berg-Segers, A., Hubner, A., Van Breukelen, G., Cesana, M., and Pletan, Y. (1995), "Refloxacin Once Daily Versus Ciprofloxacin Twice Daily in the Treatment of Patients with Acute Uncomplicated Pyelonephritis," The Journal of Urology, 154, 19-24.
3. Craven, R. G., Marsh, H. W., Debus, R. L., and Jayasinghe, U. (2001), "Diffusion Effects: Control Group Contamination Threats to the Validity of Teacher-Administered Interventions," Journal of Educational Psychology, 93, 639-645.
4. Donner, A., Birkett, N., and Buck, C. (1981), "Randomization by Cluster: Sample Size Requirements and Analysis," American Journal of Epidemiology, 114, 906-914.
5. Donner, A., and Klar, N. (1994), "Methods for Comparing Event Rates in Inter vention Studies When the Unit of Allocation Is a Cluster," American Journal of Epidemiology, 140, 279-289.
6. Gail, M. H., Mark, S. D., Carroll, R. J., and Green, S. B. (1996), "On Design Considerations and Randomization-Based Inference for Community Intervention Trials," Statistics in Medicine, 15, 1069-1092.
7. Goldstein, H. (1995), Multilevel Statistical Models (2nd ed.), London: Edward Arnold.
8. Greenberg, D., Meyer, R. H., and Wiseman, M. (1994), "Multisite Employment and Training Program Evaluations: A Tale of Three Studies," Industrial and Labour Relations Review, 47, 679-691.
9. Hedeker, D., Gibbons, R. D., and Davis, J. M. (1991), "Random Regression Models for Multicenter Clinical Trials Data," Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 27, 73-77.
10. Hedeker, D., McMahon, S. D., Jason, L. A., and Salina, D. (1994), "Analysis of Clustered Data in Community Psychology: With an Example from a Worksite Smoking Cessation Project," American Journal of Community Psychology, 22, 595-615.
11. Moerbeek, M., van Breukelen, G. J. P., and Berger, M. P. F. (2001), "Optimal Ex perimental Designs for Multilevel Models with Covariates, " Communications in Statistics, Theory and Methods, 30, 2683-2697.
12. National Institute of Mental Health (1998), "The NIMH Multisite HIV Prevention Trial: Reducing HIV Sexual Risk Behavior," Science, 280, 1889-1894.
13. Plewis, I., and Hurry, J. (1998), "A Multilevel Perspective on the Design and Analysis of Intervention Studies," Educational Research and Evaluation, 4, 13-26.
14. Raudenbush, S. W., and Liu, X. (2000), "Statistical Power and Optimal Design for Multisite Randomized Trials," Psychological Methods, 5, 199-213.
15. Slymen, D. J., and Hovell, M. F. (1997), "Cluster Versus Individual Randomization in Adolescent Tobacco and Alcohol Studies: Illustrations for Designs Decisions," International Journal of Epidemiology, 26, 765-771.
16. Sommer, A., Tarwotjo, I., Djunaedi, E., West, K. P., Loeden, A. A., Tilden, R., and Mele, L. (1986), "Impact of Vitamin a Supplementation on Childhood Mortality. A Randomised Controlled Community Trial," Lancet, 1986, 1169-1173.
17. Torgerson, D. J. (2001), "Contamination in Trials: Is Cluster Randomisation the Answer?," British Medical Journal, 322, 355-357.