Research glossary
Clinical research terms, explained simply
- Adverse event
- Any unwanted health experience that happens during a study, whether or not it is caused by the study itself.
- Blinding
- Keeping participants, and sometimes the study team, from knowing which group a participant is in, to reduce bias.
- Control group
- A group in a study that does not receive the approach being tested, used for comparison.
- Eligibility criteria
- The rules a study uses to decide who can take part, set by the independent study team.
- Endpoint
- The specific result a study measures to answer its main question.
- Ethics review board
- An independent committee that reviews studies to protect the rights and welfare of participants.
- Informed consent
- The ongoing process of learning about a study before and during participation, including the right to leave at any time.
- Phase
- A stage of clinical research. Early phases focus on safety and later phases look at effectiveness in larger groups.
- Placebo
- An inactive substance or approach that looks like the one being tested, used for comparison.
- Principal investigator
- The person who leads a study at a research site and is responsible for how it is run.
- Protocol
- The detailed plan for a study, describing its purpose, methods, and schedule.
- Randomization
- Assigning participants to study groups by chance, so groups are as similar as possible.
- Study coordinator
- The team member who organizes study visits and is often the main point of contact for volunteers.
- Volunteer
- A person who chooses to take part in a study. Volunteers may include people with or without a specific health condition.