Abstract
Objectives
Social and psychological interventions are often complex. Understanding randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of these complex interventions requires a detailed description of the interventions tested and the methods used to evaluate them; however, RCT reports often omit, or inadequately report, this information. Incomplete and inaccurate reporting hinders the optimal use of research, wastes resources, and fails to meet ethical obligations to research participants and consumers.
Methods
In this paper, we explain how reporting guidelines have improved the quality of reports in medicine, and describe the on-going development of a new reporting guideline for RCTs: CONSORT-SPI (an extension for social and psychological interventions).
Results and conclusions
We invite readers to participate in the project by visiting our website, in order to help us reach the best-informed consensus on these guidelines (http://tinyurl.com/CONSORT-study).
Keywords
Randomised controlled trial RCT CONSORT-SPI Reporting guideline Reporting standards
A comment to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11292-013-9184-1.
A comment to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11292-013-9186-z.
A comment to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11292-013-9185-0.
Social and psychological interventions are often complex. Understanding randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of these complex interventions requires a detailed description of the interventions tested and the methods used to evaluate them; however, RCT reports often omit, or inadequately report, this information. Incomplete and inaccurate reporting hinders the optimal use of research, wastes resources, and fails to meet ethical obligations to research participants and consumers.
Methods
In this paper, we explain how reporting guidelines have improved the quality of reports in medicine, and describe the on-going development of a new reporting guideline for RCTs: CONSORT-SPI (an extension for social and psychological interventions).
Results and conclusions
We invite readers to participate in the project by visiting our website, in order to help us reach the best-informed consensus on these guidelines (http://tinyurl.com/CONSORT-study).
Keywords
Randomised controlled trial RCT CONSORT-SPI Reporting guideline Reporting standards
A comment to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11292-013-9184-1.
A comment to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11292-013-9186-z.
A comment to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11292-013-9185-0.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 355-367 |
| Journal | Journal of Experimental Criminology |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Sept 2013 |