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These ten questions test your knowledge of why it’s important to carry out fair tests of treatments – medical, surgical, complementary or any other kind – before routinely using them in practice.
Are you a good bullshit detector?
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Congratulations! Your honed nostrils can sniff out bullshit from a mile away.
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Well done! There’s room for improvement but you really know your stuff when it comes to bullshit detection.
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Hmm, maybe you should think about some critical appraisal training.
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Oh dear. The situation is critical. We prescribe an urgent read of Testing Treatments.
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Oh dear. A trained monkey would have done better. The prognosis is terrible.
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Question 1 of 10
1. Question
What is the likelihood of a new treatment being better than an existing, standard treatment?
Correct
Incorrect
Hint
If you would like to read relevant material before answering, click here:
Djulbegovic B, Kumar A, Glasziou P, Miladinovic B, Chalmers I. Trial unpredictability yields predictable therapy gains. Nature 2013:500;395-396. -
Question 2 of 10
2. Question
In an experiment to compare two treatments, patients are allocated at random so that:(Tick any that are true)
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Question 3 of 10
3. Question
When are carefully planned and performed fair tests of a treatment not necessary to reach valid conclusions about its effects?Tick any that are true:
Correct
Some treatments, such as a chest tube for a collapsed lung or cataract surgery, have such immediate and dramatic effects that a formal comparison group is not needed.
Read more about “dramatic effects“.
Incorrect
Some treatments, such as a chest tube for a collapsed lung or cataract surgery, have such immediate and dramatic effects that a formal comparison group is not needed.
Read more about “dramatic effects“.
Hint
If you would like to read relevant material before answering, see: Glasziou P, Chalmers I, Rawlins M, McCulloch P. When are randomised trials unnecessary? Picking signal from noise. BMJ 2007;334: 349-351.
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Question 4 of 10
4. Question
In a study to assess the effects of a new antiviral agent for flu-like illness, 100 people were given the new drug.
One week later the researchers observed that 90 of the 100 people were better.
What were the researchers justified in concluding?
Tick any justified conclusions:
Correct
From this study, we don’t know whether 90 of 100 people would have been better even without the treatment. Hence a “fair test” generally needs a comparison, or “control”, group of patients.
Read more about why fair comparisons are important.
Incorrect
From this study, we don’t know whether 90 of 100 people would have been better even without the treatment. Hence a “fair test” generally needs a comparison, or “control”, group of patients.
Read more about why fair comparisons are important.
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Question 5 of 10
5. Question
What should you believe when some fair tests of a treatment suggest one thing about its effects and other fair tests suggest different effects
Tick all that are true:
Correct
Incorrect
Hint
If you would like to read relevant material before answering, consult Testing Treatments interactive.
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Question 6 of 10
6. Question
A “systematic review” of the reports of clinical trials is a synthesis of research addressing a specific question. Such systematic reviews have the following features:
Tick any that are true:
Correct
Incorrect
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Question 7 of 10
7. Question
In a placebo-controlled trial of new drug, Kuritol, 8% of those allocated to Kuritol died compared to 12% allocated to the placebo.
There are different ways to compare the survival in the two groups. Can you work out which is correct?
The difference in the likelihood of death for patients given Kuritol is:
Correct
Incorrect
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Question 8 of 10
8. Question
Study results are often given together with “confidence intervals”, for example, that 40% ± 5% of people (i.e. a confidence interval from 35% to 45%) suffer depression after experiencing a stroke.
Which of the following statements about a confidence interval is correct?
Tick any that are true:
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Question 9 of 10
9. Question
If you’re invited to participate in research to test treatments, which of these conditions should you insist be met before you decide whether or not to participate?
Tick any that are true
Correct
Incorrect
Hint
If you would like to read relevant material before answering, please consult the Action Plan on Testing Treatments interactive.
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Question 10 of 10
10. Question
When evaluating whether you can trust the results of a randomised trial, what are the most important things to look for?
Tick the criteria you think are most important:
Correct
Read more in Fair Tests of Treatments, or download critical appraisal tools from the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine.
Incorrect
Read more in Fair Tests of Treatments, or download critical appraisal tools from the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine.