Other variant titles : How radical researchers are changing our world

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Scurvy, scared straight and Sliding doors -- From bloodletting to placebo surgery -- Decreasing disadvantage, one coin toss at a time -- The pioneers of randomisation -- Learning how to teach -- Controlling crime -- Valuable experiments in poor countries -- Farms, firms and Facebook -- Testing theories in politics and philanthropy -- Treat yourself -- Building a better feedback loop -- What's the next chance? -- Ten commandments for running your own randomised trial.

Randomized tests are carried out on us every day: by supermarkets, search engines, online dating sites and direct marketers. Political parties use randomized trials to win elections. But how do these tests work? Are there any ethical issues? And what do they reveal about our choices? In this book, the author tells the stories of radical researchers who overturned conventional wisdom in medicine, politics, economics, law enforcement and more. From finding the cure to scurvy to discovering which policies really improve literacy rates, randomistas have shaped life as we know it - but they often had to fight to conduct their trials and have their findings implemented.