University of Western Australia: Bias Minimisation, randomisation and blinding

Format: Texts

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Language/s: English

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Resource Link: View the Text

Target Audience: Further education

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Short Description:

University of Western Australia’s explanation of why random allocation to comparison groups and blinding (if possible) are important.

Key Concepts addressed:

• 2-2 Comparison groups should be similar
• 2-5 People should not know which treatment they get
• 2-7 All should be followed up
• 2-8 Consider all of the relevant fair comparisons
• 2-17 Don’t confuse “statistical significance” with “importance”
• 3-1 Do the outcomes measured matter to you?

Details

Bias minimisation; Study Methodology

• Randomisation eliminates investigator bias in allocating patients to different treatment arms.
• Blinding can avoid bias due to patient or observer knowledge of treatment allocation. Blinding can be through use of placebo or sham treatment. In a single blind study, only the patient or observer is unaware of the treatment allocation.

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