Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place, London, UK.
Health Psychol. 2010 Sep;29(5):468-70. doi: 10.1037/a0020844.
The nature of comparison conditions is a much overlooked feature of designing and interpreting the results of randomized controlled trials, as outlined by Williams (see record 2010-18776-001). We agree that understanding the components and mechanisms of the comparison condition is necessary for making inferences about both intervention effectiveness (whether the intervention worked and which components may have contributed to such an effect) and about theoretical mediators (how it worked). The extent to which one can draw strong inferences regarding the efficacy and mechanisms of an intervention over the comparison is conditional upon a number of key points.
由 Williams（见记录 2010-18776-001）概述，比较条件的本质是设计和解释随机对照试验结果时一个被严重忽视的特征。我们同意，为了对干预效果（干预是否有效以及哪些组成部分可能促成了这种效果）和理论中介（如何发挥作用）做出推断，理解比较条件的组成部分和机制是必要的。关于干预相对于比较的效果和机制能够做出有力推断的程度取决于许多关键点。
