When should blinding be used?
Blinding of one or more parties is done to prevent observer bias. This refers to the fact that most (if not all) researchers will have some expectations regarding the effectiveness of an intervention. Blinding of observers provides a strategy to minimize this form of bias.
What does blinding mean in RCT?
Blinding refers to the concealment of group allocation from one or more individuals involved in a clinical research study, most commonly a randomized controlled trial (RCT).
What are blinding techniques?
Blinding is a procedure in which one or more parties in a trial are kept unaware of which treatment arms participants have been assigned to, i.e. which treatment was received in order to avoid bias.
What is blinding in EBP?
Blinding is about ensuring that participants and/or personnel within a study are unaware of a particular element of that study. It is done to minimise bias [1,2].
What is meant by blinding and double blinding?
In medical trials, the term blinding, or double-blind, usually refers to the practice of keeping patients in the dark as to whether they are receiving a placebo or not. It can also refer to allocation concealment, which is used to avoid selection bias.
What is blinding and types of blinding?
4. Types of Blinding
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Single blind or single-masked | The participants are blinded but no one else is |
| Double blind or double-masked | The participants and clinicians / data collectors are blinded |
| Triple blind | The participants, clinicians / data collectors and outcome adjudicators / data analysts are blinded |
What is blinding in internal validity?
Blinding is necessary for control of bias in clinical trials. We define blinding as the process of concealing research design elements such as group assignment, treatment agent, and research hypotheses from participants, health care providers, or data collectors (Penson & Wei, 2006; Portney & Watkins, 2000).
What is single blinding?
(SING-gul-blind STUH-dee) A type of clinical trial in which only the researcher doing the study knows which treatment or intervention the participant is receiving until the trial is over.
What is evidence-based medicine (EBM)?
The British Medical Journal recently called evidence-based medicine (EBM) one of the fifteen most important milestones since the journal’s inception 1. The concept of EBM was created in the early 1980’s as clinical practice became more data-driven and literature based 1, 2. EBM is now an essential part of medical school curriculum 3.
How much loss to follow-up leads to bias?
Some have suggested that <5% loss leads to little bias, while >20% poses serious threats to validity . This may be a good rule of thumb, but keep in mind that even small proportions of patients lost to follow-up can cause significant bias .
Are wise pattern patients less likely to return for long-term follow-up?
Because the Wise pattern patients often have fewer contour problems in the immediate postoperative period, they may be less likely to return for long-term follow-up.
How can we reduce patient loss to follow-up?
Some authors suggest that patient loss to follow-up can be minimized by offering convenient office hours, personalized patient contact via phone or email, and physician visits to the patient’s home 20, 24. Bias from misclassification of exposure or outcome