Assessing the generalizability of randomized trial results to target populations.

ABSTRACT: Recent years have seen increasing interest in and attention to evidence-based practices, where the "evidence" generally comes from well-conducted randomized trials. However, while those trials yield accurate estimates of the effect of the intervention for the participants in the trial (known as "internal validity"), they do not always yield relevant information about the effects in a particular target population (known as "external validity"). This may be due to a lack of specification of a target population when designing the trial, difficulties recruiting a sample that is representative of a prespecified target population, or to interest in considering a target population somewhat different from the population directly targeted by the trial. This paper first provides an overview of exist

SUBMITTER: Stuart EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4359056 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature