Figure 1 Distinguished statistician Karl Pearson is seen as the first medical researcher to
use formal techniques to combine data from different studies studies are needed. For …

Published evidence suggests that aspects of trial design lead to biased intervention effect
estimates, but findings from different studies are inconsistent. This study combined data from …

There has been a lot of skepticism over the years regarding the value of a meta-analysis.
One major area of disagreement has been the divergent findings obtained by pooled meta …

Meta‐analysis is an important method of bridging the gap between undersized randomized
control trials and the treatment of patients. However, as in any retrospective study, the …

Design Variation in the magnitude of the estimated effect for clinical interventions has been
clearly described as being associated with the designs of studies. For example, Sacks et …

Background: The interpretation of the results of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) has
traditionally emphasized statistical significance rather than clinical importance. Our aim was …

Context.—Medical evidence may be biased over time if completion and publication of
randomized efficacy trials are delayed when results are not statistically significant. Objective …

Randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) are firmly established as the standard for determining
which medical treatments are effective. In some areas of health care, however, among them …

All research has flaws. Some flaws are so trivial that the research can still stand as the
definitive study. Other flaws prevent a study from being definitive, but the study still provides …

Research on bias in clinical trials may help identify some of the reasons why investigators
sometimes reach the wrong conclusions about intervention effects. Several quality …