This introductory online course will be taught over 5 full days and to ensure inclusivity will include live, asynchronous and pre-recorded material. The course also includes voluntary interactive elements such as 'Present your own RCT' session.

By the end of the course participants should be able to:

1. understand why and when randomised trials are optimally conducted;
2. address the key questions in designing a trial, including sample size;
3. examine issues involved in the planning, conducting and completing a successful trial;
4. understand how to assess patient experiences and incorporate patient and public involvement effectively in trials;
5. use strategies to enhance trial recruitment, adherence and retention;
6. understand the distinctive concepts in the analysis of clinical and health economic data in pragmatic randomised trials; and
7. gain insight into the experience of being a Chief Investigator and working with registered Clinical Trials Units.

This course is designed for:

• Trial Managers and co-ordinators
• Researchers / Administrators working on trials
• Chief Investigators / Principal Investigators
• Other specialists looking to understand RCTs including clinicians, health care and public health care researchers

The course will specifically cover:

1. need for randomised trials;
2. design of trials;
3. randomisation;
4. sample size;
5. feasibility and pilot studies;
6. trial planning, resourcing and working with the NHS;
7. trial initiation;
8. qualitative research in trials;
9. Patient and Public Involvement;
10. optimising trial recruitment;
11. trial conduct and closure;
12. protocol adherence and missing data;
13. cluster and public health trials, including in schools;
14. outcome assessment and Patient Reported Outcome Measures;
15. health economics overview;
16. primary and secondary trial analyses;
17. experience of being a Chief Investigator;
18. Clinical Trials Unit support for trialists; and
19. CRF and database design.

This course is taught by staff from the University of Bristol including: Trial Methodologists, Trial Statisticians, Trial Managers, Qualitative Researchers and Health Economists.

Before booking this course, please make sure you read the information provided above about the target audience.

Bookings are taken via our online booking system, for which you must register an account. To check if you are eligible for free or discounted courses please see our fees and voucher packs page. All bookings are subject to our terms & conditions, which can be read in full here.

For help and support with booking a course refer to our booking information page, FAQs or feel free to contact us directly. For available payment options please see: How to pay your short course fees.

Participants are granted access to our virtual learning platform (Blackboard) 1 to 2 weeks in advance of the course. This allows time for any pre-course work to be completed and to familiarise with the platform.

To gain the most from the course, we recommend that you attend in full and participate in all interactive components. We endeavour to record all live lecture sessions and upload these to the online learning environment within 24 hours. This allows course participants to review these sessions at leisure and revisit them multiple times. Please note that we do not record breakout sessions.

All course participants retain access to the online learning materials and recordings for 3 months after the course. 

University of Bristol staff and postgraduate students who do not wish to attend the full course may instead register for access to the 'Materials & Recordings' version of this course: Further information and bookings.

100% of attendees recommend this course*.
*Attendee feedback from 2025.

Here is a sample of feedback from the last run of the course:

“The short course provided a comprehensive overview of how to successfully conduct an RCT." - Course feedback, May 2025

“Very knowledgeable tutors and great overview of RCTs." - Course feedback, May 2025

“The interactive sessions with breakout rooms and specific examples to work through were great ways to learn and kept me feeling engaged with the content. I particularly enjoyed the introduction to RCTs with the historical perspective, the mini-RCT presentations and the session on secondary analyses." - Course feedback, May 2025

“The course was very informative and interesting, it covered a range of aspects. Speakers were very knowledgeable." - Course feedback, May 2025

“Really enjoyed the structure that went from beginning to end of a trial." - Course feedback, May 2025

“The course was packed full of information and delivered by a range of presenters with varying experiences and expertise. The course provided insight on pragmatic RCTs as a whole and was insightful for providing a broad view of all considerations for RCTs. " - Course feedback, May 2025