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The 131 pages that link to Randomized controlled trial, each with the reason it gives.

• Evidence-based medicineRelated: Random allocation can reduce confounding when estimating treatment effects.

• Causal inferenceRelated: Random assignment breaks confounding on average, giving a direct route to causal estimates.

• Clinical trialBroader topic: Random allocation helps separate an intervention’s effects from differences between participants.

• Placebo effectRelated: Placebo controls are its defining feature; the effect created the design's need.

• EpidemiologyCompared with: Random assignment can test interventions more directly than observational comparisons can.

• Traditional Chinese medicineRelated: Trials test specific Chinese medical interventions while limiting bias and confounding.

• Traditional medicineRelated: Its methods test defined treatments, but may not capture every feature of a complex healing system.

• CausalityBroader topic: Random assignment helps estimate treatment effects by balancing confounding factors.

• ConfoundingBroader topic: Random assignment is a design-based defense against baseline confounding.

• OverdiagnosisNarrower topic: Long-term comparisons of screened and unscreened groups can help estimate excess diagnoses.

• AntioxidantRelated: Trials test whether antioxidant supplements improve health beyond biochemical plausibility.

• Personalized medicineRelated: Traditional trials estimate average effects that may obscure variation among patients.

• Development economicsRelated: Random assignment helps test whether specific anti-poverty interventions change outcomes.

• PlaceboNarrower topic: Random assignment helps estimate whether an active treatment outperforms a placebo.

• Experimental designBroader topic: It is a common design for testing whether an intervention causes an outcome change.

• External validityRelated: Trial participants and conditions may differ from those encountered in routine practice.

• Selection biasRelated: Random assignment does not erase bias from selective recruitment, nonadherence, or attrition.

• Field experimentNarrower topic: Field experiments often use random assignment to compare interventions under real-world conditions.

• Functional magnetic resonance imagingRelated: Careful randomized task designs help distinguish condition-related signals from confounds.

• Omega-3 fatty acidRelated: Trials provide direct evidence about whether omega-3 interventions improve health outcomes.

• Observational studyCompared with: Random assignment can balance confounders, unlike ordinary observation.

• ProbioticsRelated: Product-specific trials are needed because probiotic effects cannot be generalized across strains.

• A/B testingNarrower topic: A/B testing is a randomized controlled trial adapted to product and communication decisions.

• Foreign aidRelated: Researchers use trials to test particular aid interventions, though findings may not generalize to whole aid systems.

• Health technology assessmentRelated: Trials often provide evidence on a technology’s efficacy and short-term harms.

• Null hypothesisRelated: A common null states that assignment to the intervention does not change the outcome.

• Effective altruismRelated: Trial evidence can guide intervention choices, though many important effects cannot be tested this way.

• HomeopathyRelated: Trials using this design have tested whether homeopathic remedies outperform placebo.

• RecidivismRelated: Random assignment can test whether an intervention changes subsequent offending or justice contact.

• Case studyCompared with: Random assignment targets causal effects through comparison rather than deep study of one bounded case.

• Natural experimentCompared with: It provides the benchmark that natural experiments approximate without researcher-controlled assignment.

• AcupunctureRelated: Trials of acupuncture face distinctive challenges in blinding practitioners and choosing credible controls.

• EconometricsRelated: Random assignment provides a benchmark for measuring causal economic effects.

• Evidence-based policyBroader topic: Random assignment can strengthen claims about a policy intervention's causal effects.

• Mindfulness-based stress reductionRelated: Trials help distinguish MBSR’s effects from attention, expectations, and other influences.

• Random number generationRelated: Random assignment helps balance confounding factors between treatment groups.

• RandomizationBroader topic: Random assignment is the defining feature that supports causal comparisons in this trial design.

• Music therapyRelated: Trials can estimate intervention effects, while therapeutic outcomes and contexts may vary.

• Placebo-controlled trialNarrower topic: Random allocation can balance groups in a placebo-controlled trial.

• Quasi-experimentCompared with: Random assignment balances causes of outcomes in expectation; quasi-experiments lack this safeguard.

• Virtual reality exposure therapyRelated: Trials help establish how virtual exposure compares with established treatments and control conditions.

• ExperimentBroader topic: It applies random assignment and controls to estimate treatment effects.

• Nudge theoryRelated: Trials can test whether a nudge changes behavior rather than merely seeming plausible.

• Outbreak investigationCompared with: Outbreak investigations usually observe naturally occurring exposures rather than assign them experimentally.

• Program evaluationCompared with: It can estimate causal effects, but is one design among several used in evaluation.

• Ultra-processed foodRelated: A controlled feeding trial found higher calorie intake on an ultra-processed diet than an unprocessed diet.

• Empirical evidenceBroader topic: Random assignment helps test causal claims by balancing confounding factors.

• Instrumental variableCompared with: Random assignment directly balances treatment groups, while an instrument usually shifts exposure indirectly.

• Nutritional epidemiologyRelated: Diet trials can strengthen causal inference, but long-term adherence and feasibility are challenging.

• Animal-assisted therapyRelated: Randomized comparisons can test benefits beyond attention, novelty, or usual care.