What are clinical trials and why do people participate?

Clinical research is medical research that involves people like you. When you volunteer to take part in clinical research, you help doctors and researchers learn more about disease and improve health care for people in the future. Clinical research includes all research that involves people.  Types of clinical research include:

A potential volunteer talks with her doctor about participating in a clinical trial.
  • Epidemiology, which improves the understanding of a disease by studying patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease in specific groups.
  • Behavioral, which improves the understanding of human behavior and how it relates to health and disease.
  • Health services, which looks at how people access health care providers and health care services, how much care costs, and what happens to patients as a result of this care.
  • Clinical trials, which evaluate the effects of an intervention on health outcomes.