> Then, patients received a first 40 minute intravenous infusion of ketamine (0.5 mg/kg) or placebo 0.9% (saline solution) in addition to their current treatment.
This really shouldn’t be labeled as double blind.
1.The nurse administering knew if it was placebo or active (for safety reasons).
2. It would immediately become obvious to the subject if they were injected with salt water or ketamine.
3. Within minutes it would become obvious to everyone in the room if the patient was injected with salt water or ketamine.
Some trails are impossible to be double blind. That’s okay, there are other ways to address concerns of internal validity. Pretending like this trail is double blind does not address any internal validity concerns, and only raises concerns about the researchers understanding of experimental design.
This really shouldn’t be labeled as double blind.
1.The nurse administering knew if it was placebo or active (for safety reasons).
2. It would immediately become obvious to the subject if they were injected with salt water or ketamine.
3. Within minutes it would become obvious to everyone in the room if the patient was injected with salt water or ketamine.
Some trails are impossible to be double blind. That’s okay, there are other ways to address concerns of internal validity. Pretending like this trail is double blind does not address any internal validity concerns, and only raises concerns about the researchers understanding of experimental design.