Andrew Gelman has a nice blog post on the shortcomings of the double blind clinical trial: http://andrewgelman.com/2018/01/08/benefits-limitations-randomized-c

Andrew Gelman has a nice blog post on the shortcomings of the double blind clinical trial: http://andrewgelman.com/2018/01/08/benefits-limitations-randomized-controlled-trials-agree-deaton-cartwright/ http://andrewgelman.com/2018/01/08/benefits-limitations-rand... To be honest, I think a randomised clinical trial is more of a starting point than an endpoint in terms of 'knowing' that an effect is genuine. The 'gold standard' moniker overdoes the authority of the RCT a