论文标题
网络干扰下的实验设计
Experimental Design under Network Interference
论文作者
论文摘要
本文研究了研究人员旨在精确推断治疗效应时，研究了两波实验的设计。我们考虑通过单个网络，个体之间的局部依赖性连接的单位，以及一类估计，包括平均治疗和平均溢出效应。我们介绍了一个统计框架，用于设计两波网络实验，研究人员使用第一波（PILOT）实验对参与者和治疗分配进行优化，以最大程度地减少感兴趣的估计值的方差，以估算方差。我们得出保证对治疗效果的推断，并遗憾地保证了从建议的设计机制获得的方差。我们的结果说明了在选择试点研究中的权衡，并正式表征了飞行员相对于主要实验的规模。使用模拟和现实世界网络的仿真说明了该方法的优势。
This paper studies the design of two-wave experiments in the presence of spillover effects when the researcher aims to conduct precise inference on treatment effects. We consider units connected through a single network, local dependence among individuals, and a general class of estimands encompassing average treatment and average spillover effects. We introduce a statistical framework for designing two-wave experiments with networks, where the researcher optimizes over participants and treatment assignments to minimize the variance of the estimators of interest, using a first-wave (pilot) experiment to estimate the variance. We derive guarantees for inference on treatment effects and regret guarantees on the variance obtained from the proposed design mechanism. Our results illustrate the existence of a trade-off in the choice of the pilot study and formally characterize the pilot's size relative to the main experiment. Simulations using simulated and real-world networks illustrate the advantages of the method.
