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Dr Mylene Lagarde COW 3.02

This course is available on the MSc in Global Health Policy, MSc in Health Data Science, MSc in Health Policy, Planning and Financing, MSc in International Health Policy and MSc in International Health Policy (Health Economics). This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course has a limited number of places (it is controlled access) and demand is typically high. Places are allocated first to students in the Department of Health Policy and then on a first come first served basis.

Randomized trials have long been used in the clinical world to test the efficacy of medical treatments. Increasingly, social scientists have used the same approach, randomly assigning groups to different interventions, in order to determine which policies are most likely to address the key behavioural problems faced by health systems, from inadequate provider performance to low adherence to treatment or risky health behaviours. 

This course proposes a hands-on and intuitive approach to designing and conducting a randomised evaluation of a behavioural health programme. The aim of the course is to provide students will the skills required to design and implement a successful randomised evaluation. By the end of the course, students should be able to:

• Explain the reasons for undertaking randomised evaluations;
• Design and plan a randomised experiment to ensure it answers relevant questions, informed by a conceptual framework;
• Understand the technical aspects of the randomised evaluation, including be able to perform and understand simple sample size calculation;
• Explore potential threats to randomisation, and implement strategies to mitigate them;
• Determine how to best measure the outcomes of interest, including reflecting on the accuracy of survey instruments;
• Understand the best practices in how to conduct and manage fieldwork, and follow ethical principles to conducting research.
• Understand the best practices to analyse data from different types of randomised evaluations.

Seminars will be designed to encourage students to critically engage with the topics and apply the technical skills taught in lectures. Each seminar will be closely aligned with the lecture content to give students the opportunity to apply the new knowledge. Case studies will be chosen from various cultural backgrounds, to allow the presentation of a diverse range of settings and issues. Throughout the courses, but more extensively in the second half of the term, seminars will be dedicated to discussing issues and problems raised in lectures in relation to the project chosen by students in their group for the research protocol.

This course will be delivered through a combination of lectures and seminars totalling a minimum of 20 hours during Lent Term. Seminars will take place in small groups and consist of a mix of case studies and discussions/presentations of the students’ own work. Ahead of the seminars students will work in small groups on structured learning activities set by the course lead. Each seminar will also be a forum for discussing, presenting and receiving feedback on students&rsq