How does 'Random Assignment' in experiments aid causal inference?
Instruction: Explain how random assignment of participants to treatment and control groups helps establish causality in an experiment.
Context: This question assesses the candidate's understanding of the importance of random assignment in minimizing bias and ensuring that the groups are comparable, thereby strengthening causal claims.
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Random assignment uses a known chance mechanism to allocate eligible units to conditions. Probabilities may be unequal, stratified or cluster-based; equal probability across all arms is not the definition.
The mechanism supports independence between assignment and relevant potential outcomes, subject to the design...