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Preface

It has been eight years since the first edition of this book was published. Since then, a great number of articles and at least two new books have been published on the subject of cluster randomised trials. The study designs falling into this category have seen much greater use in recent years, in fields as disparate as psychology and economics.

Randomised controlled trials are the accepted gold standard for evaluating the effects of interventions to improve health, and the advantages of this study design are widely recognised. In the great majority of such trials, individual patients or participants are randomly allocated to the experimental conditions under study; for example, to treatment and control groups. Sometimes, however, it is more appropriate to randomise groups of individuals to the different treatment arms. Trials of this kind are known as cluster randomised trials , and this book aims to discuss the design, conduct and analysis of such trials.

Authors: Richard J. Hayes, Lawrence H. Moulton