title: Planning and carrying out a clinical study: the first steps.
abstract: This paper is the first of two explaining the methods which may be used in clinical evaluation. It describes how a project or study is planned to meet its aims. It covers issues related to the sample, interventions and the measures employed to evaluate the interventions.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kirk-Smith
mesh_terms: D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D006801:Humans; D018579:Patient Selection; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012107:Research Design