Learnrigorousstatisticalmethodstoensurevalidclinicaltrials
ThisSecondEditionofthecriticallyhailedClinicalTrialsbuildsonthetext'sreputationasastraightforwardandauthoritativepresentationofstatisticalmethodsforclinicaltrials.Readersareintroducedtothefundamentalsofdesignforvarioustypesofclinicaltrialsandthenskillfullyguidedthroughthecompleteprocessofplanningtheexperiment,assemblingastudycohort,assessingdata,andreportingresults.Throughouttheprocess,theauthoralertsreaderstoproblemsthatmayariseduringthecourseofthetrialandprovidescommonsensesolutions.
Theauthorbasestherevisionsandupdatesonhisownclassroomexperience,aswellasfeedbackfromstudents,instructors,andmedicalandstatisticalprofessionalsinvolvedinclinicaltrials.TheSecondEditiongreatlyexpandsitscoverage,rangingfromstatisticalprinciplestocontroversialtopics,includingalternativemedicineandethics.Atthesametime,itoffersmorepragmaticadviceforissuessuchasselectingoutcomes,samplesize,analysis,reporting,andhandlingallegationsofmisconduct.ReadersfamiliarwiththeFirstEditionwilldiscovercompletelynewchapters,including:
*Contextsforclinicaltrials
*Statisticalperspectives
*Translationalclinicaltrials
*Dose-findinganddose-rangingdesigns
Eachchapterisaccompaniedbyasummarytoreinforcethekeypoints.Reviseddiscussionquestionsstimulatecriticalthinkingandhelpreadersunderstandhowtheycanapplytheirnewfoundknowledge,andupdatedreferencesareprovidedtodirectreaderstothemostrecentliterature.
Thistextdistinguishesitselfwithitsaccessibleandbroadcoverageofstatisticaldesignmethods--thecrucialbuildingblocksofclinicaltrialsandmedicalresearch.Readerslearntoconductclinicaltrialsthatproducevalidqualitativeresultsbackedbyrigorousstatisticalmethods.