ArticleTrials2020
Trial Forge Guidance 2: how to decide if a further Study Within A Trial (SWAT) is needed.
Article in Trials, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Trial Forge Guidance 5: ethical considerations in randomised Studies Within A Trial (SWATs).Trials · 2025Guideline
- Can we achieve better trial recruitment by presenting patient information through multimedia? Meta-analysis of 'studies within a trial' (SWATs).BMC medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Recruitment and retention interventions in surgical and wound care trials: A systematic review.PloS one · 2023Pooled it
- Can we achieve better recruitment by providing better information? Meta-analysis of 'studies within a trial' (SWATs) of optimised participant information sheets.BMC medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Strategies to improve retention in randomised trials.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Recruitment strategies in randomised controlled trials of men aged 50 years and older: a systematic review.BMJ open · 2019Pooled it
- Trial
- Trial
- The effect of personalised versus non-personalised study invitations on recruitment within the ENGAGE feasibility trial: an embedded randomised controlled recruitment trial.BMC medical research methodology · 2022Trial
- Bah humbug! Association between sending Christmas cards to trial participants and trial retention: randomised study within a trial conducted simultaneously across eight host trials.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Enclosing a pen to improve response rate to postal questionnaire: an embedded randomised controlled trial.F1000Research · 2020Trial
- Article
- Consolidated guidance for behavioral intervention pilot and feasibility studies.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2024Article
- Trial Forge Guidance 4: a guideline for reporting the results of randomised Studies Within A Trial (SWATs).Trials · 2024Article
- An Appraisal of the Evidence behind the Use of the CHRODIS Plus Initiative for Chronic Pain: A Scoping Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Effective interventions to increase representation of under-served groups in randomised trials in UK and Ireland: a scoping literature review.NIHR open research · 2024Article
- Undertaking Studies Within A Trial to evaluate recruitment and retention strategies for randomised controlled trials: lessons learnt from the PROMETHEUS research programme.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2024Article
- Expert Perspectives on Pilot and Feasibility Studies: A Delphi Study and Consolidation of Considerations for Behavioral Interventions.Research square · 2023Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
27 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The evidence base available to trialists to support trial process decisions-e.g. how best to recruit and retain participants, how to collect data or how to share the results with participants-is thin. One way to fill gaps in evidence is to run Studies Within A Trial, or SWATs. These are self-contained research studies embedded within a host trial that aim to evaluate or explore alternative ways of delivering or organising a particular trial process.SWATs are increasingly being supported by funders and considered by trialists, especially in the UK and Ireland. At some point, increasing SWAT evidence will lead funders and trialists to ask: given the current body of evidence for a SWAT, do we need a further evaluation in another host trial? A framework for answering such a question is needed to avoid SWATs themselves contributing to research waste.This paper presents criteria on when enough evidence is available for SWATs that use randomised allocation to compare different interventions.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.