ABSTRACT
The rise in evidence-based medicine over the past decade has led to an ever-increasing emphasis on research centring on hypothesis testing. Such testing has generally taken the form of either randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or, more recently, meta-analyses and some systematic reviews. Given the context of increasing financial costs, and expectations of longevity and quality of life, it is not surprising that the most emphasis, effort and funding has been centred on these hypothetico-deductive-based designs. Such designs are clearly the most rigorous in identifying the relative effectiveness of interventions and forms of service provision. This is likely to continue indefinitely, and so it should.
