In order to guarantee the similarity of each treatment group, the "minimization" method attempts are made, which is more direct than random permuted block within strats. In the minimization method, samples in each stratum are assigned to treatment groups based on the sum of samples in each treatment group, which makes the number of subjects keep balance among the group.<ref name=":0" /> If the sums for multiple treatment groups are the same, simple randomization would be conducted to assign the treatment. In practice, the minimization method needs to follow a daily record of treatment assignments by prognostic factors, which can be done effectively by using a set of index cards to record. The minimization method effectively avoids imbalance among groups but involves less random process than block randomization because the random process is only conducted when the treatment sums are the same. A feasible solution is to apply an additional random list which makes the treatment groups with a smaller sum of marginal totals possess a higher chance (e.g.¾) while other treatments have a lower chance(e.g.¼ ).<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Pocock|first=S. J.|date=March 1979|title=Allocation of Patients to Treatment in Clinical Trials|journal=Biometrics|volume=35|issue=1|pages=183–197|doi=10.2307/2529944|jstor=2529944|pmid=497334|issn=0006-341X}}</ref>