Clinical Trials
Blinded trials
Amanda describes a double-blind trial of pro-biotic yoghurt to control irritable bowel syndrome....
Amanda describes a double-blind trial of pro-biotic yoghurt to control irritable bowel syndrome....
* FOOTNOTE: ‘Equipoise’ means a situation where clinicians are uncertain which treatment is best – literally it means they are balanced equally between them.
Phil explains how the cholesterol-lowering drug and placebo were blinded, but he guessed he might...
Phil explains how the cholesterol-lowering drug and placebo were blinded, but he guessed he might...
Kate and her husband guessed correctly that she was getting the active injection and he was...

Kate and her husband guessed correctly that she was getting the active injection and he was...
Amanda wanted to run a trial on herself to see if a change of drug made any real difference to...
Amanda wanted to run a trial on herself to see if a change of drug made any real difference to...
So then I stopped that.
Jayne explains that blinding to patients and staff is not always possible, but you can still make...

Jayne explains that blinding to patients and staff is not always possible, but you can still make...
Randomisation – allocating people at random to one group or another, so that each group contains a similar mix of people. Random allocation helps ensure we are comparing two very similar groups of patients, so if one group does better than another, it is very likely to be because the treatments being compared have different effects, and not because of differences between the people in the groups. (See also ‘Feelings about being allocated (randomised) to a treatment group').
Placebo – a treatment with no active ingredient which is designed to appear very similar to the treatment being tested. By comparing people’s responses to the placebo and to the treatment being tested, researchers can tell whether the treatment provides any additional benefit. (See also ‘Feelings about being in a placebo-controlled trial’).
Last reviewed September 2018.
Last updated July 2011