> ...would make the trial more conservative though... If the doc correctly divines that the drug is improving things, yes, but there is noise in the signal so

> ...would make the trial more conservative though... If the doc correctly divines that the drug is improving things, yes, but there is noise in the signal so it may be just noise causing the few apparent improvements the doc sees. If so, doc's action may be smothering a less-then-obvious signal. There's too much at stake for that to be acceptable. > ...are estimating the effect of an intention to treat ( the randomisation) not the treatment itself. I don't understand - the protocol applies the drug (aka the treatment) and results are measured. I don't understand 'intention to treat'. What is 'intention' here, so tech term I am not familiar with?