Compass is still being developed and is effectively in beta. Some content and features may be incomplete, change, or not work as expected.

Content is anchored to trusted sources where available, but Compass has not yet been clinically reviewed. It provides general information rather than medical advice.

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Treatments and research

Randomised

Deciding by chance which participants get which treatment, so the groups are comparable.

What it means

If people or their doctors chose their group, the groups would differ in ways that muddle the result. Assigning at random makes the groups alike on average, so a difference at the end is more likely to be the treatment.

Why you might hear it

  • It is what the R stands for in RCT, the strongest common trial design.
  • Sources often describe evidence as coming from randomised trials or not.

Where Compass goes into this

About this explanation

These are plain explanations of words you may come across, not advice about your own situation. Where a word matters to a decision, the question pages go into it properly, and your own team is the place to take it.