Random assignment: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 03:37, 2 December 2020

Revision as of 03:38, 2 December 2020

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'''Random assignment''' or '''random placement''' is an [[experiment]]al technique for assigning [[human subject research|human participants]] or [[animal testing|animal subjects]] to different groups in an experiment (e.g., [[treatment and control groups|a treatment group versus a control group]]) using [[wikt:randomization#Noun|randomization]], such as by a chance procedure (e.g., [[coin flipping|flipping a coin]]) or a [[random number generation|random number generator]]. This ensures that each participant or subject has an equal chance of being placed in any group. Random assignment of participants helps to ensure that any differences between and within the groups are not [[systematic error|systematic]] at the outset of the experiment. Thus, any differences btwnbetween groups recorded at the end of the experiment can be more confidently attributed to the experimental procedures or treatment.

Random assignment, [[blind experiment|blinding]], and [[scientific control|controlling]] are key aspects of the [[design of experiments]], because they help ensure that the results are not spurious or deceptive via [[confounding]]. This is why [[randomized controlled trial]]s are vital in [[clinical research]], especially ones that can be [[double-blinded]] and [[placebo-controlled]].