‘Misbehaving’ RCTs: The Confounding Problem of Human Agency
journal contribution
posted on 2024-10-04, 13:40authored byNaila Kabeer
This paper argues that the theoretical model of causal inference underpinning RCTs is frequently undermined by the failure of different actors involved in their implementation to behave in ways required by the model. This is not a problem unique to RCTs, but it poses a greater challenge to them because it undercuts their claims to methodological superiority based on the ‘clean identification’ of causal effects.
History
Publisher
Elsevier Ltd
Citation
Naila Kabeer, ‘Misbehaving’ RCTs: The confounding problem of human agency, World Development, Volume 127, 2020, 104809, ISSN 0305-750X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104809