A type of study design that assigns participants to an intervention (treatment) or a control/comparison group in order to test the effects or efficacy of the intervention. Clinical trials may involve randomization (the random allocation of participants to groups) and/or blinding, which prevents participants, researchers, or other involved personnel from knowing which participants were assigned to which group.
Published in Chapter:
Standards in Yoga Research and Reporting
Steffany Moonaz (Maryland University of Integrative Health, USA), Daryl Nault (Maryland University of Integrative Health, USA), and Atiera Abatemarco (Maryland University of Integrative Health, USA)
Copyright: © 2021
|Pages: 15
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-3254-6.ch009
Abstract
Yoga research is growing rapidly in volume and rigor but varies in sample size, study design, and reporting transparency. Yoga professionals may not be versed in the current research due to a lack of research literacy and may not be well positioned to discern research relevance and quality. Research literacy is necessary to apply research in yoga teaching and therapeutics. Research is part of evidence-informed practice, along with clinical experience and client preferences, and is aligned with concepts from yoga philosophy. Several strategies are available to improve research literacy and evidence-informed practice for yoga professionals, which can help to expand inter-professional collaboration and inform the trajectory of yoga research toward better alignment and application to clinical practice. Yoga research reporting guidelines will improve transparency in research dissemination for application to practice, policy, replication, comparison, and summarization.