HEA102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Cut-Point, Randomized Controlled Trial, Null Hypothesis
Document Summary
Experimental research is embedded in the scientific method (see figure). This process is iterative so what we know about the effectiveness of interventions is always changing and being refined. From the evidence hierarchy (links to an external site. )links to an external site. (click on "the best evidence") you can see that the rct is the best primary research design to answer questions about effectiveness. The rct is an experimental design because rather than just observing what happens to participants, it manipulates the intervention that participants receive. An rct draws a sample from a population of interest and assigns participants to groups. The experiment is then conducted the groups are treated according to the question the rct seeks to answer and the outcomes are measured. You cannot ethically randomly allocate people to receive something harmful. For example, you could not conduct an rct to determine whether or not smoking causes harm.
