Skip to main content

Table 1 Comparison of Several Methods of Evaluating a Medical Intervention

From: The Paired Availability Design for Historical Controls

Method

Strengths

Weaknesses

Randomized controlled trial

1.

No temporal bias

1.

Cost and effort

 

2.

No selection bias

2.

Recruitment

Observational cohort study

1.

No temporal bias

1.

Cost of data collection

   

2.

Selection bias if an

    

important risk factor is

    

omitted or not

    

adequately quantified

Paired availability design

1.

Lessens selection bias

1.

Assumptions in Table 2