The Global Health Trials Methodology Research Agenda: A Priority Setting Exercise

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The following invitation to take part in trials methodology research comes from the Network of Hubs for Trials Methodology Research (HTMR) which was established by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) to improve the quality of clinical trials (translations of this invitation are also available in French, Chinese and Spanish):
 

Dear Participant,

Trials methodology research investigates the methods, practices and procedures that are used for the design, conduct, analysis, interpretation, and reporting of clinical trials.

The Network of Hubs for Trials Methodology Research (HTMR) was established by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) to improve the quality of clinical trials. A previous project undertaken by the MRC HTMR identified the methodology research topics felt to be most important to Directors of registered clinical trials units (CTUs) within the UK for example: methods to boost recruitment, adaptive trial designs, sample size calculations. We now wish to extend this work to establish the methodological research priorities in low to middle income (LMIC) countries. A list of the members of the Steering Group for this project is given at the end of this letter.

You are being invited to take part in this first round of the survey because you belong to a network of health professionals and methodologists with clinical trials experience in LMIC settings.

The responses we receive in this first round will be fed back to recipients in the form of a survey to enable priorities to be refined.

We would like you to complete an on-line questionnaire, accessed via the link below, to let us know your views of the priorities for trials methodological research in LMICs. The questionnaire should take around 10 minutes to complete. At the end of the questionnaire, you will also be asked if you would like to take part in the next round. If you agree to this, responses from the initial questionnaire will be sent to you by email and you will be asked to score each topic to allow the priorities to be refined.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Global_Health_Trials_Methodology_Research_Agenda

(The survey will remain open for responses until the 23rd January 2017).

If you provide us with your name and email address for involvement in the next round or in order to be sent a copy of the findings, your details will be kept confidential and will not be shared with any third party. If you complete both rounds of the survey, we will enter your name into a prize draw to win a free place at the joint ICTMC/SCT conference in Liverpool, May 7-10th 2017, with expenses to cover travel and accommodation, up to a total cost of £2,500.

http://www.ictmc2017.com/

A copy of the results will be provided to you if you wish and will also be available at http://www.methodologyhubs.mrc.ac.uk/.

Results may also be published elsewhere and may be used for some other research. You will not be identifiable when the findings are published or shared with others.


Steering Group Members:

Aneel Bhangu, University of Birmingham, UK

Louise Bowman, Medical Research Council Clinical Trial Service Unit (Oxford) Hub, University of Oxford, UK

Jane Blazeby, Medical Research Council ConDUCT-II Hub, University of Bristol, UK

Mike Clarke, Northern Ireland Network for Trials Methodology Research, Queen’s University Belfast, UK

Trudie Lang, University of Oxford, UK

Mona Nasser, University of Plymouth, UK

Nandi Siegfried, South African Medical Research Council, South Africa

Karla Soares-Weiser, Cochrane and Cochrane Innovations, UK

Matt Sydes, Medical Research Council CTU at UCL, London, UK

Duolao Wang, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK

Paula Williamson, North West Hub for Trials Methodology Research, University of Liverpool, UK

Junhua Zhang, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China

Further information can be obtained from:
Anna Rosala-Hallas, Research Assistant, Department of Biostatistics, University of Liverpool;
Telephone: 0044151 282 4722; Email: a.rosala-hallas@liverpool.ac.uk.