Cartwright, Nancy (2011) A philosopher's view of the long road from RCTs to effectiveness. The lancet, 377 (9775). pp. 1400-1401. ISSN 0140-6736
Abstract
For evidence-based practice and policy, randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are the current gold standard. But exactly why? We know that RCTs do not, without a series of strong assumptions, warrant predictions about what happens in practice. But just what are these assumptions? I maintain that, from a philosophical stance, answers to both questions are obscured because we don't attend to what causal claims say. Causal claims entering evidence-based medicine at different points say different things and, I would suggest, failure to attend to these differences makes much current guidance about evidence for medical and social policy misleading.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/issue/cur... |
| Additional Information: | © 2011 Elsevier |
| Library of Congress subject classification: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) |
| Sets: | Departments > Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method Research centres and groups > Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science (CPNSS) |
| Rights: | http://www.lse.ac.uk/library/rights/LSERO.htm |
| URL: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/31830/ |
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