Randomistas : how radical researchers are changing our world /

Randomistas are not, as one might surmise from the title, members of an international terrorist organization. Rather, as the book jacket labels them, they are "radical researchers" who, according to Australian economist turned government official Leigh, practice RCT--randomized control trial experiments that assign participants to treatment or control groups to assess the validity or benefits of a new drug, surgical procedure, crime reduction program, or other personal, business, educational, or political decision-making strategy or innovation. The author walks readers through a myriad of laboratory and field experiments in medicine and health, homelessness and global poverty, job searching, the classroom and early childhood education, prison populations, agriculture, and the high-tech, data-driven world of online purveyors, political campaigns and charitable giving, and behavioral insight teams and "nudge units" in Britain that have migrated elsewhere. Along the way, Leigh tips his cap to experimental pioneers, addresses the potential ethical aspects inherent in these approaches, and acknowledges the skepticism of some researchers (this reviewer is one) with regard to the lack of replication and other shortcomings. Though a strong RCT advocate, Leigh's superb endnotes and objectivity pervade his "treatment." Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Allen R. Sanderson, University of Chicago

Leigh (The Luck of Politics), an Australian MP, covers the important and contested subject of randomized trials and how they affect the world in this encompassing account. He provides readers with an intelligible guide to this scientific technique from the mid-18th century, when trials were conducted seeking a cure to scurvy, to the present variety of trials taking place across industries and disciplines. Randomized trials have been used to test the effectiveness both of tiny changes-the U.K. government's "Nudge Unit" discovered car tax collection letters became 9% more effective "if they included a photograph of the offending vehicle"-and of high-stakes processes-a 2013 trial found a very common kind of knee surgery no more effective than simply telling patients they had undergone the operation. Leigh finds that randomized trials have challenged assumptions in many fields, from social welfare policy to retail marketing strategies. And though many people presume that randomized trials are impractically costly and time-consuming , Leigh shows how today's researchers are demonstrating that "randomised experiments can be done quickly, simply, and cheaply." Even a general audience can appreciate this well-rounded and intriguing overview of a surprisingly far-reaching topic. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.