Randomization

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Randomizationistheprocessofmakingsomethingrandominvariouscontextsthisinvolves,forexample:
generatingarandompermutationofasequence(suchaswhenshufflingcards)
selectingarandomsampleofapopulation(importantinstatisticalsampling)
allocatingexperimentalunitsviarandomassignmenttoatreatmentorcontrolcondition
generatingrandomnumbers(seeRandomnumbergeneration)or
transformingadatastream(suchaswhenusingascramblerintelecommunications).
Randomizationisnothaphazard.Instead,arandomprocessisasequenceofrandomvariablesdescribinga
processwhoseoutcomesdonotfollowadeterministicpattern,butfollowanevolutiondescribedbyprobability
distributions.Forexample,arandomsampleofindividualsfromapopulationreferstoasamplewhereevery
individualhasaknownprobabilityofbeingsampled.Thiswouldbecontrastedwithnonprobabilitysampling
wherearbitraryindividualsareselected.

Contents
1 Applications
1.1 Statistics
1.1.1 Randomizedexperiments
1.1.2 Surveysampling
1.1.3 Resampling
1.2 Gambling
2 Techniques
3 Seealso
4 References
5 Externallinks

Applications
Randomizationisusedinstatisticsandingambling.

Statistics
Randomizationisacoreprincipleinstatisticaltheory,whoseimportancewasemphasizedbyCharlesS.Peirce
in"IllustrationsoftheLogicofScience"(18771878)and"ATheoryofProbableInference"(1883).
Randomizationbasedinferenceisespeciallyimportantinexperimentaldesignandinsurveysampling.The
firstuseof"randomization"listedintheOxfordEnglishDictionaryisitsusebyRonaldFisherin1926.[1][2]
Randomizedexperiments
Inthestatisticaltheoryofdesignofexperiments,randomizationinvolvesrandomlyallocatingtheexperimental
unitsacrossthetreatmentgroups.Forexample,ifanexperimentcomparesanewdrugagainstastandarddrug,
thenthepatientsshouldbeallocatedtoeitherthenewdrugortothestandarddrugcontrolusingrandomization.
Randomizationreducesconfoundingbyequalisingsocalledfactors(independentvariables)thathavenotbeen
accountedforintheexperimentaldesign.
Surveysampling

Surveysamplingusesrandomization,followingthecriticismsofprevious"representativemethods"byJerzy
Neymaninhis1922reporttotheInternationalStatisticalInstitute.
Resampling
Someimportantmethodsofstatisticalinferenceuseresamplingfromtheobserveddata.Multiplealternative
versionsofthedatasetthat"mighthavebeenobserved"arecreatedbyrandomizationoftheoriginaldataset,
theonlyoneobserved.Thevariationofstatisticscalculatedforthesealternativedatasetsisaguidetothe
uncertaintyofstatisticsestimatedfromtheoriginaldata.

Gambling
Randomizationisusedextensivelyinthefieldofgambling.Becausepoorrandomizationmayallowaskilled
gamblertotakeadvantage,muchresearchhasbeendevotedtoeffectiverandomization.Aclassicexampleof
randomizingisshufflingplayingcards.

Techniques
Althoughhistorically"manual"randomizationtechniques(suchasshufflingcards,drawingpiecesofpaper
fromabag,spinningaroulettewheel)werecommon,nowadaysautomatedtechniquesaremostlyused.Asboth
selectingrandomsamplesandrandompermutationscanbereducedtosimplyselectingrandomnumbers,
randomnumbergenerationmethodsarenowmostcommonlyused,bothhardwarerandomnumbergenerators
andpseudorandomnumbergenerators.
Nonalgorithmicrandomizationmethodsinclude:
Castingyarrowstalks(fortheIChing)
Throwingdice
Flippingacoin
Drawingstraws
Shufflingcards
Roulettewheels
Drawingpiecesofpaperorballsfromabag
"Lotterymachines"
Observingatomicdecayusingaradiationcounter

Seealso
Randomizedalgorithm

References
1.FisherRA.Thearrangementoffieldexperiments(http://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/handle/2440/15191).J
MinAgriGB192633:700725.
2.OxfordEnglishDictionary"randomization"

Externallinks
RQube(http://jan.seifseit.de/programme/qube/qube.php)Generatequasirandomstimulussequencesfor
experimentaldesigns
RandList(http://www.randomisation.eu)RandomizationListGenerator
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Categories: Randomness Designofexperiments

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