Section E
Evidence & Research Literacy
Reading studies without being misled by them.
What Counts as Healthcare Evidence?
Different kinds of healthcare evidence answer different questions, and their usefulness depends on how well they were collected and analysed.
E02From Laboratory Finding to Clinical Use
Moving a laboratory finding into healthcare involves repeated testing, practical decisions and uncertainty rather than a guaranteed path to clinical use.
E03Observational Studies
Observational studies examine patterns without assigning exposures, making them valuable for many questions but vulnerable to alternative explanations.
E04Randomised Trials
Randomised trials use chance-based allocation to compare interventions while reducing systematic differences between groups.
E05Clinical Trial Phases
Clinical trial phases describe common research aims, especially for medicines, rather than a guaranteed sequence leading to successful treatment.
E06Endpoints and Surrogate Outcomes
A study's endpoints determine what it can show, and changes in indirect measurements do not always mean improvements that people notice or value.
E07Absolute and Relative Effects
Absolute and relative effects describe the same comparison in different ways, so both are needed to understand the size of a reported benefit or harm.
E08Confidence Intervals and Precision
Confidence intervals describe statistical uncertainty around an estimate, but they do not capture every reason a study result could be wrong.
E09Bias and Confounding
Bias and confounding can systematically distort research findings, and reducing them requires careful design as well as appropriate analysis.
E10Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis
Systematic reviews organise relevant research, while meta-analysis can combine numerical findings when doing so is scientifically appropriate.
E11Reading a Scientific Paper
Reading a scientific paper critically means connecting its question and methods to its actual results, limitations and wider evidence.
E12When Studies Disagree
Apparently conflicting studies may differ in their questions, methods or precision, so disagreement requires investigation rather than a simple vote count.
E13When Evidence Changes
Research conclusions can change as new findings emerge, errors are corrected and the strengths and limits of existing evidence become clearer.