TY - JOUR
T1 - Generalizability of Randomized Trial Results to Target Populations
T2 - Design and Analysis Possibilities
AU - Stuart, Elizabeth A.
AU - Ackerman, Benjamin
AU - Westreich, Daniel
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supposed in part by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through grant R305D150003 (Principal Investigators (PIs): Stuart and Olsen), by a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute Award (ME-1502-27794; PI: Dahabreh), and by the National Institutes of Health, through grant DP2-HD-08-4070 (PI: Westreich).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, The Author(s) 2017.
PY - 2018/7/1
Y1 - 2018/7/1
N2 - Randomized trials play an important role in estimating the effect of a policy or social work program in a given population. While most trial designs benefit from strong internal validity, they often lack external validity, or generalizability, to the target population of interest. In other words, one can obtain an unbiased estimate of the study sample average treatment effect from a randomized trial; however, this estimate may not equal the target population average treatment effect if the study sample is not fully representative of the target population. This article provides an overview of existing strategies to assess and improve upon the generalizability of randomized trials, both through statistical methods and study design, as well as recommendations on how to implement these ideas in social work research.
AB - Randomized trials play an important role in estimating the effect of a policy or social work program in a given population. While most trial designs benefit from strong internal validity, they often lack external validity, or generalizability, to the target population of interest. In other words, one can obtain an unbiased estimate of the study sample average treatment effect from a randomized trial; however, this estimate may not equal the target population average treatment effect if the study sample is not fully representative of the target population. This article provides an overview of existing strategies to assess and improve upon the generalizability of randomized trials, both through statistical methods and study design, as well as recommendations on how to implement these ideas in social work research.
KW - evidence-based practice
KW - literature review
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85041314188&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1177/1049731517720730
DO - 10.1177/1049731517720730
M3 - Article
C2 - 30034203
AN - SCOPUS:85041314188
SN - 1049-7315
VL - 28
SP - 532
EP - 537
JO - Research on Social Work Practice
JF - Research on Social Work Practice
IS - 5
ER -