Play-the-winner rule and adaptive designs of clinical trials. (20th October 2001)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wang, Xikui; Pullman, Daryl
• Is Part Of: International journal of mathematics and mathematical sciences. Volume 27:Number 4(2001)
• Page Start: 229
• Page End: 236
• Publication Date: 2001-10-20
• Subjects: Mathematics -- Periodicals; 510.5
• DOI: 10.1155/S0161171201005750
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0161-1712

Abstract

Abstract : In another paper, we have argued that the traditional randomized design of clinical trials is ethically infeasible in desperate medical situations and adaptive designs are morally required. We have also argued that in such situations, the appropriate designs must satisfy what we call the “Principle of interchangeability.” In this statistics paper, we show that the statistical model of bandit processes satisfies this principle of interchangeability. Moreover, we demonstrate that when such a model is used as an adaptive design, the total regret of successes lost is smaller when compared with simple randomization. We illustrate the results by the simple deterministic play-the-winner design.