• Question: what happens if trials where to go wrong or not as expected? do you do everything on a smaller scale until it goes right?

    Asked by team520keys to Kirsty L, Alberto G on 10 Mar 2025.
    • Photo: Kirsty Lindsay

      Kirsty Lindsay answered on 10 Mar 2025:

      Yes we do: we might test an idea with a small group of people called a pilot study, before trying with with a large group of people.

Comments

  • Photo: sandrarobertson

    sandrarobertson commented on :

    Yes, that is one option when something goes wrong. Another option we use is to swap out different parts of the chain of reaction with something we know worked before, to look at each stage individually, to be able to work out at what stage the expected reaction does not happen. This can help to isolate the one part of the chain to investigate further to find out what went wrong.

  • Photo: melissau

    melissau commented on :

    If the trial relates to testing a new form of medication or treatment procedure for a disease where some patients receive the medication/procedure and other patients don’t receive it there will be a process set up at the start of the trial that requires the outcomes for the two groups to be continuously monitored so that if the new medication/treatment appears to result in worse outcomes for patients, there will be a point at which the trial is stopped and the project is reviewed before deciding what to do next. Equally, if it appears that the medication/procedure seems to result in much better outcomes for patients quite early in the trial, there will be a point where a decision needs to be made to switch all the patients to receive that new medication/procedure as it would not be ethical to continue to not use it for them all.