Saturation in G: simple & robust causal inference in cluster randomized trials with informative cluster sizes
簇规模饱和与 g 计算:信息性簇规模下的稳健因果推断
Cluster randomized trials (CRTs) can exhibit informative cluster sizes (ICS) where cluster size is associated with outcomes and/or treatment effects. Under ICS, the individual and cluster-average treatment effects (iATE, cATE) can diverge, and the conventional linear mixed-effects model (LMM) and generalized estimating equation (GEE) with an exchangeable working correlation can produce data-dependent weighted contrasts that are not consistent for either estimand. In these…