The A4 assignment
For this task, you need to read the following paper:
Effect of Removing Direct Payment for Health Care on Utilisation and Health Outcomes in Ghanaian Children: A Randomised Controlled Trial
Your task is to summarize this paper, but addressing at least the points detailed in Parts 1-4 below.
• Do not include a cover/title page.
• The summary will be at most two sides of an A4,
• Use a SANS-SERIF FONT (arial, calibry, etc) no smaller than 11pt,
• Use margins of at least 2.54cm throughout.
• Students will have to submit the report by 2 p.m. on Friday 20th March (U.K. Time)
This task will count for 40% of the final mark in the module.
Part I: Describe the setting [15 Marks]
1. What is the question being addressed
2. Why does that question matter
3. Define: which is the population, which are the units, the potential outcomes Y (0), Y (1) and the
assignment variable Z in the context of the paper.
Part II: The hypothetical observational study [35 Marks]
Suppose that instead of a randomized experiment, the authors had just undertaken an observational study, collecting data from (A) people who, for some reason, had received the treatment described in the paper (Z=1) and (B) people who, for some reason, had NOT received the treatment described in the paper (Z=1).
4. What would the selection bias mean in this context
5. What potential sources of selection bias could there exist.
6. What would be sign of the selection bias be?
7. In your opinion, would the selection bias be, in magnitude, bigger or smaller than the Average Treatment
on the Treated. That is, if in this hypothetical observational study we had tried to estimate the ATE using a difference in means, could we observe a negative [positive] effect when in fact the ATE is likely to be positive [negative]?
Part III: Quality of the design. [35 Marks]
8. SUTVA: What does SUTVA means in the context of this paper? Is SUTVA likely to hold?
9. Random assignment: Do the authors present any evidence to suggest that randomization was properly
done? Describe this evidence.
10. Did the authors register the experiment prior to going to the field? Do they provide any sample size
calculations? Did the obtain ethical approval?
Part IV: Would you recommend this policy to a friend? [15 Marks]
11. What are the main conclusions of the paper
12. On the basis of the above, does this study rely on a solid design and, therefore, should we trust the
conclusion of the study?
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