What Type of Trial Did They Do?
There are several important trial designs that you need to be aware of. The list below shows you some of the designs you may come across.
Explanatory
Provides clues as to how an intervention works.
Pragmatic
Concerned with practical consequence rather than theory.
Efficacy
Concerned with how well a treatment works in ideal circumstances. Efficacy studies are often used in Phase II of clinical trials.
Effectiveness
Concerned with how well a treatment works in the real world. Effectiveness studies are often used in Phase III of clinical trial.
Equivalence/non-inferiority
A non-inferiority trial is done to see if a treatment with obvious advantages (cheaper, less painful) is no worse (by a specified amount) than an existing treatment.Non-inferiority trials have to be bigger than normal trials.