About the Unit

NFER’s Education Trials Unit comprises a specialist team of statisticians, researchers and trial managers. Due to the unique blend of expertise at NFER, we offer a service that covers all aspects of RCT evaluation in an education setting, including both impact and process evaluations. 

A further strength of how we execute and report trials is through adhering to the principles of open science. At the beginning of a trial we publish a protocol and statistical analysis plan. These ensure trial design and analysis are pre-specified and not vulnerable to data dredging or multiple significance testing. Furthermore, we publish the results of every trial to avoid publication bias and, where a repository exists, we upload data and analysis code at the end of the trial to allow results to be reproduced. All of these strategies help to counter the replication crisis.