- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- Epigraph
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The Language of Clinical Trials
- 3 The Recipe for Trials
- 4 The Stages of Trials
- 5 The Anatomy of Trials
- 6 Authorship and Credits
- 7 The Nature of Trials
- 8 The Ethics of Trials
- 9 Regulation of Trials
- 10 Research Misconduct
- 11 Myths Regarding Trials
- 12 Tricks of the Trade from a Cynic
- 13 Reading Between the Lines, or How to Read a Journal Article
- 14 Critics and Criticisms
- 15 What to Make of Results
- 16 Biostatistics 101
- 17 Subgroup Analysis vs. Data Dredging
- 18 Meta-analyses and Systematic Reviews
- 19 Re-Search
- 20 Shopping for a Trial?
- 21 Readings
- 22 Clinical Trials and Our Health
- 23 Final Exam
- 24 Last Words
- Appendix A <i>The Mother Test for Designers of Trials</i>
- Appendix B <i>Rating Index for Clinical Trials</i>
- Appendix C A Patient’s Guide for Deciding Whether to Enroll in a Randomized Trial
- Appendix D Abbreviations
- References
- Author Index
- Subject Index
The Nature of Trials
The Nature of Trials
- Chapter:
- (p.57) 7 The Nature of Trials
- Source:
- An Insider’s Guide to Clinical Trials
- Author(s):
Curtis L. Meinert
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This chapter discusses the nature of clinical trials. The characterization of the nature of trials is based on published trials, as indexed in PubMed. But relying on published trials for insight into their nature is, in a way, akin to astronomers relying on light from stars to characterize what is in the universe. Obviously, by relying only on light that reaches the Earth, they have no way of knowing how many dead stars there are. Likewise, trialists looking at published trials have no way of knowing how many were done and not published and, like their fellow astronomers, are forced to rely on information coming to light years after they were born.
Keywords: clinical trial, published trials, PubMed, information
Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .
- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- Epigraph
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The Language of Clinical Trials
- 3 The Recipe for Trials
- 4 The Stages of Trials
- 5 The Anatomy of Trials
- 6 Authorship and Credits
- 7 The Nature of Trials
- 8 The Ethics of Trials
- 9 Regulation of Trials
- 10 Research Misconduct
- 11 Myths Regarding Trials
- 12 Tricks of the Trade from a Cynic
- 13 Reading Between the Lines, or How to Read a Journal Article
- 14 Critics and Criticisms
- 15 What to Make of Results
- 16 Biostatistics 101
- 17 Subgroup Analysis vs. Data Dredging
- 18 Meta-analyses and Systematic Reviews
- 19 Re-Search
- 20 Shopping for a Trial?
- 21 Readings
- 22 Clinical Trials and Our Health
- 23 Final Exam
- 24 Last Words
- Appendix A <i>The Mother Test for Designers of Trials</i>
- Appendix B <i>Rating Index for Clinical Trials</i>
- Appendix C A Patient’s Guide for Deciding Whether to Enroll in a Randomized Trial
- Appendix D Abbreviations
- References
- Author Index
- Subject Index