But all those costs of RCTs are clearly worth it. Expensive? If your intervention is vaguely promising then EAs will throw enough money at you to get started. Time? Better get started now. Replication? More cost, EAs will fund. Outsource? Higher quality, EAs will fund.
I think GiveWell has considered funding RCTs for promising interventions and decided against it. They easily cost millions of dollars, take several years, and the evidence provided is often quite weak. Best to focus on the existing evidence-base from academia first, then move on to new RCTs when that’s all exhausted (ideally through partnerships with academics, which I think is what DMI did).
But all those costs of RCTs are clearly worth it. Expensive? If your intervention is vaguely promising then EAs will throw enough money at you to get started. Time? Better get started now. Replication? More cost, EAs will fund. Outsource? Higher quality, EAs will fund.
I think GiveWell has considered funding RCTs for promising interventions and decided against it. They easily cost millions of dollars, take several years, and the evidence provided is often quite weak. Best to focus on the existing evidence-base from academia first, then move on to new RCTs when that’s all exhausted (ideally through partnerships with academics, which I think is what DMI did).
What makes you think EAs would provide enough money? That would be excellent if so.