Randomised

Which group you go into is decided by chance, not by you or your doctor.

Learning 

What it means

In a randomised study, a computer assigns each participant to a group by chance, much like flipping a coin. Neither the participant nor the study doctor chooses.

Why it matters if you take part

It means you cannot pick which treatment you receive. It also means the groups end up similar to each other, so any difference at the end is more likely to come from the treatment than from who happened to be in which group.

What it looks like in practice

A registry record will say "Allocation: RANDOMIZED". You usually find out your group assignment after you have consented and been screened.

Related terms

Trials recruiting now that are randomised

1,959 recruiting trials in our Canadian corpus are randomised.

This explains how clinical research works. It is not medical advice and does not describe any specific condition or treatment. Only a trial site can determine whether someone can take part in a study.