Limitations of Randomized Studies
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What are some challenges associated with randomization in clinical psychology?
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Solution Summary
Randomized controlled trials are commonly used in research studies. In this paper, some of the strengths and limitations of this type of research design are discussed.
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Randomized studies
Randomized studies are used in order to eliminate selection bias. When we conduct a randomized control study, participants are randomly allocated to groups. And differences between group A and group B is reduced to chance level - like tossing a coin. Participants are unaware of the group they belong to (e.g. treatment vs control) and in some cases, a double blind study is conducted. This means that the clinicians are also unaware of the group types. Double blind studies reduce clinicians' bias during the study. Given that the characteristics of randomized studies reduces bias and help to rule out the role of a third factor in establishing correlational associations between variables, they are often used in situations where researchers are trying to establish a causal relationship (Sibbald & Roland, 1998).
Challenges of randomized studies
• Ethical challenges
One challenge is to get ethics approval for the study. Randomized studies often involve subjecting one group to treatment type 1 and the second group to treatment type 2. If one treatment method is viewed as inferior to the other, it may be seen as unethical to carry out the study (Sibbald & Roland, 1998).
In another situation, one group may be given treatment ...
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