Randomization Inference for Matched Pairs with Binary Outcomes
Abstract
We give an exact randomization-based confidence set for the average treatment effect (ATE) in matched-pair studies with a binary outcome, requiring neither monotonicity nor any distributional assumption beyond the within-pair coin flip. At its core is an analytic solution to the worst-case allocation of attributable effects: two binomial-symmetry lemmas identify the pattern hardest to reject as a single boundary corner, so testing null hypotheses needs no integer program and no numerical search. Inverting the test via binary search yields a prediction set for the attributable effect in O(log S) Binomial tail calculations; the Bonferroni proposition of Rigdon and Hudgens (2015) produces the ATE confidence set at the same computational cost. The same corner extends without further machinery to a sensitivity analysis for matched observational studies under Rosenbaum's Γ-model. A simple formula for the design sensitivity illuminates when an observational study can hope to provide evidence for an effect.
Related
BibTeX
@misc{wilson2026randomization,
title = {{Randomization Inference for Matched Pairs with Binary Outcomes}},
author = {Bob Wilson},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.03227},
eprint = {2609.03227},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.03227},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Randomization Inference for Matched Pairs with Binary Outcomes
AU - Bob Wilson
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/03
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.03227
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.03227
AB - We give an exact randomization-based confidence set for the average treatment effect (ATE) in matched-pair studies with a binary outcome, requiring neither monotonicity nor any distributional assumption beyond the within-pair coin flip. At its core is an analytic solution to the worst-case allocation of attributable effects: two binomial-symmetry lemmas identify the pattern hardest to reject as a single boundary corner, so testing null hypotheses needs no integer program and no numerical search. Inverting the test via binary search yields a prediction set for the attributable effect in O(log S) Binomial tail calculations; the Bonferroni proposition of Rigdon and Hudgens (2015) produces the ATE confidence set at the same computational cost. The same corner extends without further machinery to a sensitivity analysis for matched observational studies under Rosenbaum's Γ-model. A simple formula for the design sensitivity illuminates when an observational study can hope to provide evidence for an effect.
ER -