Adaptive treatment assignment methods and clinical trials
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 1, 2026

Inverse Probability of Treatment Weighting (Propensity Score) using the Military Health System Data Repository and National Death Index
Published on: January 8, 2020
Abstract:
This paper provides a general review of adaptive experimental designs which utilize accumulating information for assigning the best treatment to the most patients in clinical trials. The historical development of such methods is traced. Though the statistical literture on adaptive designs has developed rapidly and continues to grow, the methods are almost totally unused in practice. An extensive evaluation of why adaptive designs are rarely used in clinical trials is presented. It is asserted that most published methods have important deficiencies that render them unsuitable for application. Suggestions are offered for reorienting this area of research into directions that are potentially more useful for clinical trials.
Related Concept Videos
Randomized Experiments
Simple randomization
Simple...
Clinical Trials
There are four phases in a clinical trial. A phase one...
Crossover Experiments
Crossover designs are performed even with smaller sample sizes since the samples can act as their controls. These are better than simple randomized trials since patients are exposed to all the treatments.
Blinding
Clinical Trials: Overview
Bioequivalence Experimental Study Designs: Repeated Measures, Cross-Over, Carry-Over, and Latin Square Designs

