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    Randomization is sufficient but not necessary to control ... — Carmelics
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    Randomization is sufficient but not necessary to control selection bias.

    SkepticismTruth & Knowledge
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    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.Selection bias requires only that treatment assignment be free from researcher influence over outcomes.
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    • 2.Non-random allocation by strict protocol can prevent researcher-driven imbalance between groups.
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    • 3.Allocation by non-experts unrelated to treatment development removes expectation-driven bias.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
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    • 1.Non-random allocation by protocol cannot eliminate unknown confounders that researchers have not yet identified as relevant variables.
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    • 2.Randomization's epistemic virtue lies precisely in distributing unrecognized confounders equally across groups, a property no protocol-based matching can guarantee.
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    • 3.Fisher's foundational argument in 'The Design of Experiments' (1935) grounds causal inference in randomization's probability structure, not researcher intent.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
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    • 1.Selection bias encompasses systematic differences arising from any non-random process, including well-intentioned matching on observable characteristics.
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    • 2.Matching and protocol-based allocation presuppose a complete causal model, making them epistemically circular when the causal structure is precisely what is under investigation.
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    Related

    Allocation by non-experts unrelated to treatment development removes expectation...Deliberate matching of treatment and control groups by disinterested parties or ...Fisher's foundational argument in 'The Design of Experiments' (1935) grounds cau...Matching and protocol-based allocation presuppose a complete causal model, makin...
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    Non-random allocation by protocol cannot eliminate unknown confounders that rese...Non-random allocation by strict protocol can prevent researcher-driven imbalance...Randomization's epistemic virtue lies precisely in distributing unrecognized con...Selection bias encompasses systematic differences arising from any non-random pr...Selection bias requires only that treatment assignment be free from researcher i...

    Similar

    Beatty's argument that drift and selection cannot be distinguished nee...75%Drift is not a separate process from selection74%Natural selection is a sufficient explanation for trait T74%Natural selection is analogous to artificial selection.73%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: medicine
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    John Worrall argues that, at the end of the day, RCTs are a powerful means to control selection bias, but no more than that (Worrall 2002, 2007a,b). As he uses the term, selection bias occurs when treatment and control group are unbalanced with respect to some prognostic factors because a medical researcher has selected which patients will receive which treatment. Selection bias in this sense obviously cannot occur in an RCT because in an RCT the allocation is made by a random process. But it is
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    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit