Checklist for analysis and interpretation
This checklist has been contributed by Dave Sackett ( www.davesackett.com ), who
prepared it for the 3rd edition of Clinical Epidemiology; A
Basic Science for Answering Questions about Health Care,
published by Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins in 2005.
Before you begin your trial, and
based on your trial question:
- Draft “Table 1” summarizing the entry characteristics of
experimental and control patients.
- Specify your primary and secondary data analyses
- Specify your subgroup analyses
- Select your analytic methods for deciding whether your treatment
effect is “real”.
- Decide how to handle missing data in the analysis.
- Decide how you will interpret your results to determine their
“importance”
- Establish interim analysis plans and statistical warning rules
for efficacy, safety, and futility
After your trial is over:
- Don’t exaggerate your conclusions, especially about subgroups
- Report your results regardless of their interpretation
- Update the systematic review that justified your trial
- Formulate the logical question for your next trial
Back to Compliance and missing data
This document was last updated on December 2008.