Syntax for Science publishes its first post in collaboration with Pedro J. Llabrés, specialist in scientific dissemination and author of the blog Huele a química. This post will be the first in a series of introductory articles related to the design, management and analysis of clinical studies. On this occasion they review the three main tools to avoid bias in the design of a clinical study.
Control Group, Randomization and Blinded, Better Together
Pedro J. Llabrés, César Garcia-Rey, Juan V. Torres
This post reviews three methodological aspects that have made clinical trials the most popular and accepted (if not the only) tool for proving that a new treatment, device or intervention works.
A clinical trial is a prospective experiment in which the safety and efficacy of a new intervention is evaluated. The greatest enemy of clinical trials is undoubtedly bias. A biased study will lead to results that cannot be reproduced and will not represent the effects of the new intervention under standard conditions. Bias can become so problematic that our efforts in designing a study, and collecting, validating and analyzing the data can be rendered totally useless. Thus, bias can be minimized by good study design, i.e., a study with a randomized, blinded control group.
Continue reading in the link: http://www.syntaxforscience.com/web/2018/04/06/new-post/