What is a randomised controlled trial?

MYTUTOR SUBJECT ANSWERS

Answers / Biology / A Level / What is a randomised controlled trial?

728 views

What is a randomised controlled trial?

Randomised controlled trials are the most important way that new medical therapies (drugs, devices, procedures and so on) are tested.

‘Controlled’ means that volunteers in the trial are split into groups. One group receives the therapy being tested, and another group receives a different therapy, or a placebo (fake) therapy. This means that a direct comparison to be made between different medical therapies.

‘Randomised’ simply means that the allocation of volunteers between groups is done at random. This prevents selection bias, for example when patients who are more ill are placed in the experimental group (rather than the control) in the hope that they will get better.

Additionally, trials may be ‘blinded’ or ‘double blinded’. In blinded trials, volunteers do not know what therapy they are receiving, and in double blinded trials neither do their doctors. This is done because people often notice more changes when they are on a new therapy, especially where the effect of that therapy is subjective (not clear-cut) - the placebo effect.

Frederick H. Uni Admissions Test -Medical School Preparation- tutor, ...

2 years ago

Answered by Frederick, an A Level Biology tutor with MyTutor

Still stuck? Get one-to-one help from a personally interviewed subject specialist

262 SUBJECT SPECIALISTS

Vicky H. GCSE Biology tutor, GCSE Chemistry tutor, GCSE English tutor...

View profile

£30 /hr

Vicky H.

Degree: Dentistry (Masters) - Leeds University

Subjects offered:Biology, Science+ 12 more

“Hi I'm Vicky, I'm a 2nd year dental student at the University of Leeds. I am friendly and patient and have a love for science, maths and teaching.”

4.2

10 reviews | 35 completed tutorials

Save profile

Upasana T. GCSE Maths tutor, A Level Biology tutor

View profile

£24 /hr

Upasana T.

Degree: Medicine (Bachelors) - Birmingham University

Subjects offered:Biology, Maths+ 3 more

“About me: Hi, my name is Upasana Topiwala and I am currently in my third year of medical school at the university of Birmingham. I've taken up tutoring in order to inspire my students to appreciate the importance of science in our liv...”

5.1

42 reviews | 62 completed tutorials

Save profile

Elizabeth L. 13 plus Maths tutor, GCSE Maths tutor, 11 Plus Maths tu...

View profile

£26 /hr

Elizabeth L.

Degree: Veterinary Science (Bachelors) - Bristol University

Subjects offered:Biology, Science+ 5 more

“Final year Veterinary Student premium tutor with over 7 years tutoring experience looking to take on students for the 2017/18 academic year”

4.9

88 reviews | 231 completed tutorials

Save profile

See more A Level Biology tutors

About the author

View profile

Frederick H.

Currently unavailable: for regular students

Degree: Graduate Entry Medicine (Bachelors) - Oxford, St Hugh's College University

Subjects offered:Biology, .UKCAT.+ 1 more

“I am a graduate of the University of Oxford (Human Sciences), currently training to be a doctor at Bart’s and the London medical school. I was recently asked to help two young friends of my family with their medical school application...”

5.0

5 reviews | 3 completed tutorials

Save profile

Version:	3.49.8
Build:	44de53c98908
Time:	2017-09-14T10:02:09Z

MYTUTOR SUBJECT ANSWERS

What is a randomised controlled trial?

Still stuck? Get one-to-one help from a personally interviewed subject specialist

262 SUBJECT SPECIALISTS

About the author

You may also like...

Posts by Frederick

Other A Level Biology questions

One-to-one help is at your fingertips