ISSN: 2041-6792

Clinical Investigation

Randomized Control Trials Journals

Randomized controlled trial: (RCT) A study in which people are allocated at random (by chance alone) to receive one of several clinical interventions. One of these interventions is the standard of comparison or control. The control may be a standard practice, a placebo ("sugar pill"), or no intervention at all. Someone who takes part in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) is called a participant or subject. RCTs seek to measure and compare the outcomes after the participants receive the interventions. Because the outcomes are measured, RCTs are quantitative studies. In sum, RCTs are quantitative, comparative, controlled experiments in which investigators study two or more interventions in a series of individuals who receive them in random order. The RCT is one of the simplest and most powerful tools in clinical research. The main goal of randomized trials is therefore to assure that each individual has an equal probability to be assigned to one or the other treatment. Randomization also allows to balance known and unknown confounders in order to make control and treatment groups as balanced as possible. Validity requires multiple sites, which will be difficult to manage. Long trial run time may result in the loss of relevance as practice may have moved on by the time the trial is published.     

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