What kind of evidence do we need for evaluating therapeutic interventions?

The belief that randomized controlled trials provide a ‘gold standard’ for evaluating therapeutic interventions is challenged. The need for research designs that produce valid and reliable information about interventions, which is clinically/educationally relevant and personally important, is discussed together with possibilities for broadening the methods of enquiry and evaluation of interventions. It is also suggested that there is an opportunity to further support the development of rigour in reporting intervention studies irrespective of the epistemology employed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.