Experimental Methods

Introduction

Experimental methods are research designs in which the investigator explicitly and intentionally induces exogenous variation in the uptake of the program to be evaluated. Experimental methods, such as Randomized Control Trials, are typically considered the gold standard design for impact evaluation, since by construction the takeup of the treatment is uncorrelated with other characteristics of the treated population. Under these conditions, it is always possible for the analyst to construct a regression model in which the estimate of the treatment effect is unbiased.