Reporting Guideline for Trials of Social and Psychological Interventions: CONSORT-SPI

• In Event: Issues in the Use of Experimental Research Methods

Abstract

Background: Understanding randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of interventions in criminology requires detailed reports of interventions tested and methods used to evaluate them. However, RCT reports often omit important information, hindering critical appraisal and transfer of research to real-world decision-making. This presentation will discuss a new reporting guideline to improve reporting of criminology trials: an extension of the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) Statement for Social and Psychological Interventions: CONSORT-SPI.

Methods: Stakeholders from 32 countries participated in a Delphi process, rating the importance of including proposed reporting standards in the CONSORT-SPI guidelines. Results of the Delphi process, along with systematic reviews, were used to inform a consensus meeting, where stakeholders discussed recommended reporting standards and voted on guideline content.

Results: A checklist for reporting RCTs was developed based on empirical research and expert consensus. An explanation and elaboration document will provide detailed advice for each item and examples of good reporting from RCTs in criminology.

Conclusions: CONSORT-SPI is an important step toward improving the accuracy, comprehensiveness, and transparency of RCT reports in criminology. Endorsement of the guideline by journals, research funders, and organizations will facilitate guideline use and feedback, helping to raise the quality of standards in criminology research.

Authors

• Sean Grant, Centre for Evidence-Based Intervention, University of Oxford

• Evan Mayo-Wilson, Johns Hopkins University

• Paul Montgomery, Centre for Evidence-Based Intervention, University of Oxford