unit 3.8: clinical trials

Question 1

why are clinical trials used

Answer 1

to establish safety and effectiveness before drugs/vaccines are licensed for use

Question 2

what is a randomised control

Answer 2

subjects divided into groups randomised in distribution of characteristics such as race, age, gender to reduce bias

Question 3

what is a double-blind control

Answer 3

neither the researchers nor the subjects know which group has taken the placebo to prevent bias during interpretation of results

Question 4

what is a placebo control

Answer 4

one group given treatment with no active ingredients but identical to the real treatment, the other group is given the treatment, this ensures valid comparison

Question 5

why is group size important

Answer 5

to reduce experimental error and establishing statistical significance, at the end of the trial, the results from the groups are compared to determine whether there were any statistically significant differences between groups