Abstract
Random assignment of participants to experimental and comparison treatments is believed to enhance the comparability of the study groups on baseline characteristics. Despite its benefits, random assignment presents threats to validity. It ignores participants' treatment preferences. If not accounted for when participants are allocated to treatments, preferences influence enrolment in the study, representativeness of the accrued sample, attrition, adherence to treatment, and outcomes. This methodological article describes the mechanisms underlying the influence of treatment preferences on the external and internal validity of an intervention evaluation study. The authors present empirical evidence to support the points of discussion. They describe alternative research designs that account for treatment preferences, for use in future nursing intervention research.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 52-67 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Canadian Journal of Nursing Research |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| State | Published - Dec 2009 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Partially randomized clinical trials
- Randomized clinical trial
- Research designs
- Threats to validity
- Treatment preferences
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Medicine