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Conclusion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2024

Chris Bonell
Affiliation:
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
G. J. Melendez-Torres
Affiliation:
University of Exeter
Emily Warren
Affiliation:
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
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Summary

This conclusion summarises how realistic trials and realistic systematic reviews offer a method by which evaluation and evidence synthesis can become more useful by becoming more scientific and moving beyond being a form of sophisticated descriptive monitoring of ‘what works’. Evaluation can become more scientific both by continuing to use the most scientifically rigorous methods, as well as by being focused on the testing and refining of scientific theory. Critical realism and realist evaluation approaches offer a useful framework for constructing such theory because they offer the most plausible account of how causality operates in the complex social world. We hope that, by making these arguments, we have persuaded readers that trials and systematic reviews need to be reoriented and reformed rather than thrown away altogether. The incorporation of realist enquiry methods into randomised trials and systematic reviews offers us the best hope of evaluation and evidence synthesis that generate evidence which is both more scientific and more useful.

Type
Chapter
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Realist Trials and Systematic Reviews
Rigorous, Useful Evidence to Inform Health Policy
, pp. 99 - 101
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • Conclusion
  • Chris Bonell, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, G. J. Melendez-Torres, University of Exeter, Emily Warren, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
  • Book: Realist Trials and Systematic Reviews
  • Online publication: 08 February 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009456616.011
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  • Conclusion
  • Chris Bonell, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, G. J. Melendez-Torres, University of Exeter, Emily Warren, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
  • Book: Realist Trials and Systematic Reviews
  • Online publication: 08 February 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009456616.011
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Conclusion
  • Chris Bonell, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, G. J. Melendez-Torres, University of Exeter, Emily Warren, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
  • Book: Realist Trials and Systematic Reviews
  • Online publication: 08 February 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009456616.011
Available formats
×