Table 1 Questions identifying general and specific information needed to make informed choices about participating in a trial

General

 • Do they know that new treatments are about as likely to be worse as they are to be better than alternative existing treatments [17]?

 • Do they understand why random allocation to treatment comparison groups is used in ‘fair tests’, and why blinding outcome assessment is desirable if possible [15]?

 • Are they aware of the importance of providing required outcome data to contribute to analysis?

 • Are they aware that insufficiently large studies and the failure to report some studies have resulted in lethally mistaken beliefs about the effects of treatments [15]?

Specific

 • Are potential participants told whether similar patients to them have contributed to the design of the trial?

 • Are the questions being addressed by the trial relevant to their personal interests?

 • Are they supported to make decisions appropriate for them as individuals?

 • Are they told about the requirements of the trial as a whole (i.e. the work associated with taking part and completing the trial) and not just the recruitment process?

 • Are they satisfied that those collecting, analysing and interpreting the evidence yielded by the trial are sufficiently free of competing interests?

 • Have they been assured that a full report of the trial will be published?