As far as I can tell, that type of RCT indeed is not being done. I don’t know much about research on SMC specifically, but Givewell reports the following quote of Christian Lengeler, author of Cochrane Review of insecticide-treated bed nets:
To the best of my knowledge there have been no more RCTs with treated nets. There is a very strong consensus that it would not be ethical to do any more. I don’t think any committee in the world would grant permission to do such a trial.
That’s fascinating, the norm is extremely different in economics and I have never heard of this norm. What is the boundary between a necessary replication and something that would be considered unethical?
Isn’t that an objection to any RCT of treatments that have been shown to work in some contexts?
Yes, absolutely.
As far as I can tell, that type of RCT indeed is not being done. I don’t know much about research on SMC specifically, but Givewell reports the following quote of Christian Lengeler, author of Cochrane Review of insecticide-treated bed nets:
That’s fascinating, the norm is extremely different in economics and I have never heard of this norm. What is the boundary between a necessary replication and something that would be considered unethical?