方法对比

	整群随机对照试验	分块随机对照试验
领域	实验设计	实验设计
方法族	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
起源年份	1978–1980s	1920s (Fisher's blocking principle); applied to RCTs from the 1940s onward
提出者	Cornfield (1978); systematised by Donner and colleagues (1980s)	R. A. Fisher (blocking principle); systematic RCT application by Bradford Hill and later Pocock, Friedman et al.
类型	Experimental design	Experimental design
开创性文献	Donner, A., & Klar, N. (2000). Design and Analysis of Cluster Randomization Trials in Health Research. Arnold. ISBN: 978-0340652978	Friedman, L. M., Furberg, C. D., DeMets, D. L., Reboussin, D. M., & Granger, C. B. (2010). Fundamentals of Clinical Trials (4th ed.). Springer. ISBN: 978-1441915856
别名	cluster RCT, group-randomized trial, community randomized trial, cluster-randomized experiment	blocked RCT, block-randomized trial, stratified block randomization trial, permuted block randomization
相关	4	5
摘要	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.	A blocked randomized controlled trial (blocked RCT) uses permuted-block randomization to ensure that treatment groups remain balanced in size — and optionally in key characteristics — throughout recruitment. Within each block of fixed or randomly varied size, all treatment allocations are present in equal numbers, so imbalance cannot accumulate even if the trial is stopped early. This makes blocked RCTs the standard randomization approach in clinical and behavioral intervention research.