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Is Your ‘Double-Blind’ Design Truly Double-Blind?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Alison Oxtoby*
Affiliation:
Whiston Hospital, Warrington Road, Prescot, Merseyside
Angela Jones
Affiliation:
St Helens & Knowsley, District Health Authority, Tower Hill Health Centre, Moorfield, Tower Hill, Kirkby, Liverpool
Michael Robinson
Affiliation:
Southport General Infirmary, Occupational Therapy, Day Hospital, Curzon Road, Southport, Merseyside PR9 0LT
*
Correspondence

Extract

Before a drug trial, researchers reasonably plan that participants will remain ignorant of which drug each patient is taking, reflected in the use of allegedly identical preparations. However, only rarely is this plan subjected to systematic scrutiny after the event, and our point of view is that this is unsatisfactory.

Type
Point of View
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1989 

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Footnotes

A full bibliography is available on-request.

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