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In defence of randomised controlled trials, with suggestions about the possible use of meta‐analysis
Author(s) -
FitzGibbon C. T.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
international journal of language and communication disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.101
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1460-6984
pISSN - 1368-2822
DOI - 10.3109/13682828609018548
Subject(s) - meta analysis , psychology , reputation , focus (optics) , statistical analysis , statistical hypothesis testing , cognitive psychology , statistics , sociology , social science , medicine , physics , mathematics , optics
Howard and Pring, in this Forum, appear to attack RCTs, especially in their abstracts. A closer look at their articles and the arguments advanced will, it is argued, leave intact the reputation of RCTs as the most appropriate methodology for testing hypotheses. It is also argued here that it might be desirable to move away from reliance on statistical significance testing and focus instead on estimating Effect Sizes. Meta‐analysis is a technique of research synthesis which does this.