Thinking Small: Research Designs Appropriate for Clinical Practice

Even though some treatments have been shown to be efficacious in clinical trials, there is no guarantee that they are effective with a specific patient. This article outlines some of the methods clinicians can use to evaluate the effectiveness of therapy with individual patients. These methods include 1) the before-after design, 2) the reversal design, 3) interrupted time series, and 4) multiple baselines. This paper recommends that patients …