title: Rigor: lost in the quest for evidence-based practice.
abstract: The purpose of this column is to bring to light a lack of rigor in the design of randomized controlled trials. In this effort, basic tenets of quantitative design are considered including delineation of populations along with probability and non-probability sampling techniques in addition to defining random selection and random assignment. The idea that randomized controlled trials, considered the pièce de résistance of the evidence-based practice movement, lack rigor because of their use of randomly assigned groups without random selection of subjects is presented.
authors: Saint Xavier University, Woodridge, Illinois 60517, USA. Florczak@sxu.edu
authors: Kristine L
authors: KL
authors: Florczak
mesh_terms: D055317:Evidence-Based Practice / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards*