|
Summary: Questions to Ask About a Cancer Study
In summary, the following questions may help as you look through various cancer studies, looking for the most medically definitive findings:
|
Question
|
Look For
|
- Was the study a clinical trial? In other words, was the study experimental (there was an intervention that people were asked to take or do) and prospective (investigators followed study participants forward in time)?
|
A study that is both
experimental and prospective
|
- What phase was the trial -- phase I, phase II or phase III?
|
A phase III study
|
- Did the clinical trial have a control group? That is, did one group of participants receive the experimental intervention while another did not?
|
A controlled study
|
- Were participants randomly assigned to either the investigational group or the control group?
|
A randomized study
|
- How many participants were enrolled in the study?
|
A study that is large enough for the results to be statistically significant;
not due to chance
|
 Back to Top
< Previous Section |
