Robling, Michael  ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1004-036X and Cannings-John, Rebecca ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5235-6517
2025.
Null effects in trials – a worked example of a maltreatment prevention trial.
Sanders, Michael, Westlake, David and Hirneis, Vanessa, eds.
Experimental Methods and Children's Social Care: The Contribution of Randomised Controlled Trials,
Sociology, Social Policy and Education 2025,
Cheltenham:
Edward Elgar Publishing,
pp. 167-188.
(10.4337/9781035327157.00022)
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Abstract
Null effects in trials occur when there is insufficient difference between the intervention and control arms for tested primary outcomes to reject the null hypothesis. In this chapter, the authors explore the prevalence of null effects in different domains where clinical trials have been undertaken. Using a case study trial of specialist home visiting intended to prevent maltreatment, they explore what may contribute to null effects in trials. Such null effects include occasions where differences in effect are found between early stages of research, where the potential efficacy of a new approach shows promise, and later phases where interventions may be delivered at scale. The authors look at what may be learnt from trials where a null effect is concluded for both future design and delivery of a new intervention or service and for future evaluation.
| Item Type: | Book Section |
|---|---|
| Date Type: | Publication |
| Status: | Published |
| Schools: | Schools > Medicine Research Institutes & Centres > Centre for Trials Research (CNTRR) |
| Publisher: | Edward Elgar Publishing |
| ISBN: | 9781035327140 |
| Last Modified: | 16 Dec 2025 10:00 |
| URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/183267 |
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