ArticleTrials2017
Undertaking a randomised controlled trial in the police setting: methodological and practical challenges.
Article in Trials, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention in Police Custody Suites: Pilot Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial (AcCePT).Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire) · 2018Trial
- Article
- Testing the Efficacy of a 1-Day Police Decision-Making and Autonomic Modulation Intervention: A Quasi-Random Pragmatic Controlled Trial.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThere has been an increased drive towards Evidence Based Policing in recent years. Unlike in other public sector services, such as health and education, randomised controlled trials in the police setting are relatively rare. This paper discusses some of the methodological and practical challenges of conducting a randomised controlled trial in the police setting in the UK, based on our experience of the Connect trial. This pragmatic, cluster-randomised controlled trial investigated the effectiveness of a face-to-face training intervention for frontline officers in comparison to routine training. The primary outcome was the number of incidents which resulted in a police response reported to North Yorkshire Police control room in a 1-month period up to 6 months after delivery of training. MAIN TEXT: The methodological and practical challenges that we experienced whilst conducting the Connect trial are discussed under six headings: establishing the unit of randomisation; population of interest and sample size; co-production of evidence; time frame; outcomes; and organisational issues.
conclusionRecommendations on the conduct of future randomised controlled trials in the police setting are made. To understand the context in which research is undertaken, collaboration between police and academia is needed and police officers should be embedded within trial management groups. Engagement with police data analysts to understand what data is available and facilitate obtaining trial data is also recommended. Police forces may wish to review their IT systems and recording practices. Pragmatic trials are encouraged and time frames need to allow for trial set-up and obtaining relevant ethical approvals.
trial registrationISRCTN Registry, ID: ISRCTN11685602 . Retrospectively registered on 13 May 2016.
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