A philosopher's view of the long road from RCTs to effectiveness.

Cartwright, N.

Abstract

For evidence-based practice and policy, randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are the current gold standard. But exactly why? We know that RCTs do not, without a series of strong assumptions, warrant predictions about what happens in practice. But just what are these assumptions? I maintain that, from a philosophical stance, answers to both questions are obscured because we don't attend to what causal claims say. Causal claims entering evidence-based medicine at different points say different things and, I would suggest, failure to attend to these differences makes much current guidance about evidence for medical and social policy misleading.

Citation

Cartwright, N. (2011). A philosopher's view of the long road from RCTs to effectiveness. The Lancet, 377(9775), 1400-1401. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736%2811%2960563-1

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: 2011-04
• Deposit Date: Sep 17, 2015
• Journal: The Lancet
• Print ISSN: 0140-6736
• Electronic ISSN: 1474-547X
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Volume: 377
• Issue: 9775
• Pages: 1400-1401
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736%2811%2960563-1
• Related Public URLs: https://www.dur.ac.uk/resources/philosophy/2007_ThelongroadfromRCTstoeffectiveness.doc