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Fig. 2 | Trials

Fig. 2

From: Choosing an imbalance metric for covariate-constrained randomization in multiple-arm cluster-randomized trials

Fig. 2

Maximum pairwise imbalance observed for scenarios meeting adequacy threshold (P > 0.30) in simulated trials by criterion. Each panel represents the distribution of the max(mean difference) for simulated scenarios meeting the criterion for “adequate” overall variable balance across arms. All simulated schemes meet criteria for adequate under simple random allocation (panel a), but the remaining panels illustrate only those allocation schemes meeting the P > 0.30 criterion for each metric. The mean difference depicted is on the standard deviation unit scale. Those meeting this criterion would ideally have a small max(mean difference), and we deem a max(mean difference) > 1.0 (vertical line) unacceptable since previously a value of 0.8 would be deemed “large” [16]

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