השוואת שיטות

	ניסוי אקראי מבוקר פיילוט	ניסוי מבוקר אקראי באשכולות
תחום	תכנון ניסויים	תכנון ניסויים
משפחה	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
שנת המקור	1990s–2000s (methodological formalization)	1978–1980s
הוגה השיטה	Formalized through clinical trials methodology community	Cornfield (1978); systematised by Donner and colleagues (1980s)
סוג	Experimental feasibility design	Experimental design
מקור מכונן	Thabane, L., Ma, J., Chu, R., Cheng, J., Ismaila, A., Rios, L. P., ... & Goldsmith, C. H. (2010). A tutorial on pilot studies: the what, why and how. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 10(1), 1.	Donner, A., & Klar, N. (2000). Design and Analysis of Cluster Randomization Trials in Health Research. Arnold. ISBN: 978-0340652978
כינויים	pilot RCT, feasibility RCT, pilot trial, preliminary RCT	cluster RCT, group-randomized trial, community randomized trial, cluster-randomized experiment
קשורות	5	4
תקציר	A pilot randomized controlled trial (pilot RCT) is a small-scale, fully randomized experiment conducted before a definitive RCT to test the feasibility of study procedures, estimate key parameters such as recruitment rates and effect-size variability, and identify practical barriers. It uses the same randomization, intervention, and measurement protocol as the planned full trial but on a fraction of the target sample. The goal is not to confirm efficacy but to refine and justify the main trial design.	A cluster randomized controlled trial (cluster RCT) is an experimental design in which intact social or organisational groups — such as schools, clinics, villages, or workplaces — are randomly assigned to treatment conditions rather than individual participants. Outcomes are still measured at the individual level, but the unit of randomization is the cluster. This design is essential when an intervention is delivered to whole groups, when there is a risk of contamination between participants in the same setting, or when individual randomization is logistically or ethically impractical.