Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP) Certified Professional Practice Exam 2025 - Free ACRP Practice Questions and Study Guide

The double-dummy method is employed to maintain the blind in a clinical study during the administration of supplies, especially when there are two different treatments or interventions involved. This technique is particularly useful in situations where participants and researchers need to remain unaware of which treatment is being administered to avoid bias in evaluations.

In a double-dummy design, each participant receives two different treatments, where one is the active treatment and the other serves as a placebo. This ensures that all participants engage in both treatment arms simultaneously, thus maintaining the blind. For instance, if one group is receiving a pill and the other a liquid, each participant may receive both a pill (which could be a placebo for the liquid group) and a liquid (with a placebo for the pill group). This overlapping strategy upholds the integrity of the blinding, minimizing bias in the effectiveness and safety assessments of the interventions.

Using this method allows researchers to analyze the data without influencing the outcome based on participants' knowledge of which treatment they are receiving, ultimately reinforcing the study's validity and reliability.