Description:

"The Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST) for Engineering Better Behavioral Interventions" by Linda Collins, Professor of Human Development & Family Studies and Statistics, and Director of The Methodology Center, Penn State

Abstract: Interventions are used widely today for the prevention and treatment of health problems and the promotion of educational attainment. Behavioral and educational interventions are typically developed and evaluated using a treatment package approach where the intervention is assembled a priori and evaluated by means of a two-group randomized controlled trial (RCT). Refinement of the intervention is often done by conducting post-hoc analyses on data from the RCT. Collins will suggest an alternative framework for building and evaluating behavioral interventions, called the Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST), which is a principled approach to intervention optimization inspired by ideas from engineering. MOST includes the RCT for intervention evaluation, but also includes other steps before the RCT aimed at intervention optimization. Using MOST, behavioral and educational interventions can be optimized using criteria chosen by the intervention scientist. The MOST framework relies heavily on resource management by strategic choice of highly efficient experimental designs. Collins proposes that MOST offers several benefits, including more rapid long-run improvement of interventions, without requiring a dramatic increase in intervention research resources.

This is part of the IPR Q-Center Seminar Series on Improving Methods for Quantitative Policy Research.