As an example,

we published a paper detailing a moderately large randomised controlled trial (PEDro score 9/10) which tested the hypothesis that customised foot orthotics were no more effective than sham orthotics in people with painful pes cavus (Burns et al 2006). We found a positive effect in terms of pain reduction (the primary outcome) from the customised orthotics compared to the slightly smaller pain reduction found with the sham. We subsequently continued our analysis in an attempt to explain these findings and reported that, while the experimental group did demonstrate buy BMN 673 significantly greater pain relief, we could not attribute Vorinostat supplier this to any change in the patterns or magnitudes of pressure distribution under the foot (Crosbie and Burns 2007). As the whole point of the orthotic was to redistribute pressure away from painful areas, this led us to conclude that the

findings of the original study were the result of something other than a mechanical change, possibly a simple placebo effect. Sadly, although our original paper has been cited 26 times, the important explanatory paper has attracted only four citations, two of which were by one of the original authors. Perhaps greater support for the proposal made by Herbert (2008) that researchers make their data more accessible for others to explore will help make explanatory analysis more widespread, but the evidence to date seems unconvincing. What message does a focus on randomised trials to the exclusion of other designs send to the next generation of physiotherapy researchers and those mentoring them? Research training, whether as part of a formal degree or an informal process, needs to offer as wide an experience

Casein kinase 1 as possible and to develop skills that are not confined to one specific research design. The Council of Australian Deans and Directors of Graduate Studies (2007) opined that ‘… a best practice doctoral program should include but not be limited by … development of new research methods and new data analysis …. and … research that makes a significant and original contribution to knowledge. It should therefore be necessary for original and significant research to be undertaken in order to earn a doctorate in an Australian university. The systematic review and randomised controlled trial have become, in effect, the sine qua non of many (but thankfully not all) contemporary physiotherapy PhD theses. One must question whether this is limiting the potential to produce original thinkers.