EfD South Africa - EPRU and the EfD Global Hub, in collaboration with the Standing Panel on Impact Assessment (SPIA), conducted a free PhD training workshop with over 300 participants exploring randomized controlled trials’ fundamentals, design, and ethical considerations.
Yonas Alem, the Director of Capacity Building at EfD and UCT Research Professor, ran a workshop on the 24th and 25th of September, on randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The workshop explored the fundamentals of designing, implementing, and evaluating RCTs. RCTs are one of the most common ways to test whether a policy or program causes the change it aims to achieve. Through randomly assigning participants in the RCT to either receiving the policy being examined (the treatment group), or not (the control group), RCTs allow the researchers to isolate and understand the true effect of the intervention.
The two-day intensive training workshop covered:
- Applying impact evaluation methods
- Understanding causal inference and counterfactuals
- A lab replication of a published RCT paper
- Addressing sampling and methodological challenges
There was great engagement across the workshop from the participants. “Their curiosity and thoughtful questions kept the sessions lively and enriching.”, wrote Yonas in response to the workshop’s success. Many of the workshop participants’ feedback showed enjoyment and interest in the topics discussed and the quality of the workshop.
This initiative is part of the EfD Global Hub’s efforts to strengthen research capacity in the Global South. This workshop makes up one of the many that Yonas Alem is running. Stay connected through Yonas Alem’s LinkedIn page to learn about upcoming courses.
Josh Gray