May 29-31, 2013: The Design, Implementation, and Analysis of Randomized Experiments in Education
2013 Institute Workshop Series
Description: This 3-day workshop on the design, implementation and analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) is designed as an introductory session for people with an interest in trials, but with limited experience in undertaking them in educational settings. The goal is to increase the capacity of researchers to develop and conduct rigorous evaluations of the impact of education interventions. The workshop will provide intensive training on planning, implementing and analyzing data from an RCT, enabling participants to:
- Describe the principles underlying randomized experiments and their advantages for making causal inferences.
- Understand when it is, and when it is not, appropriate to propose an RCT design
- Design an RCT taking into account the practical limitation of the field, as well as the hierarchical structure of populations in education.
- Adequately describe the treatment and counterfactual, and measure implementation fidelity.
- Understand many of the common pitfalls in implementing RCTs in the field.
- Appropriately analyze the data from an RCT, and provide adequate context to the results.
- Acquire knowledge about how educational evaluations are reviewed and rated.
The workshop will be interactive, with individual and small group assignments, and will include real-world examples from both the literature and the presenters own experience.
Instructor: Jennifer Hamilton, Westat
Location: UGA Hotel and Conference Center
Cost: $799 (includes workshop materials, refreshment breaks, lunch and parking passes each day)
