Section 3

Double Blind - Neither the subjects nor the people working with them know which treatment each subject is receiving Block Design - A block is a group of experimental units that are similar in ways that are expected to affect the response of the treatment (randomly assign within block) Matched Pairs - Blocks are “alike” to better see result of treatment (twin studies) Can also compare before and after of same individual Review

What does “DATA Ethics” mean? Why are they necessary?

a.The organization that carries out the study must have an institutional review board that reviews all planned studies in advance in order to protect the subjects from possible harm. b.All individuals who are subjects in a study must give their informed consent before data are collected. c.All individual data must be kept confidential. Only statistical summaries for groups of subjects may be made public. Basic Data Ethics

Confidentiality is not the same as anonymity. Anonymity means the subjects are anonymous- the names are not even known to the director of the study. Anonymity prevents follow- up to improve nonresponse or to inform subjects of the results.

a.Experiments that study the effectiveness of medical treatments on active patients. b.Randomized Comparative Experiments, the only way to see the true effects of new treatments. c.Clinical Trials produce great benefits – most go to future patients d.Both medical ethics and international human rights standards say that “the interest of the subject must always prevail over the interests of science & society” Clinical Trials

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