Reports and guidance documents
Supported by the Methodology Research Programme, the MRC Population Health Sciences Research Network (PHSRN) held a workshop on natural experiments, the study of interventions or policies that aren’t under the control of researchers.
Using natural experiments to evaluate population health interventions – Workshop report
The outcomes of the workshop informed guidance to help producers, users, funders and publishers of evidence understand how and when ‘natural experiments’ - studying the effects of interventions or policies that aren’t under the control of researchers - can be used to the best effect.
Using natural experiments to evaluate population health interventions - Guidance
PHSRN has also issued guidance on the development, evaluation and implementation of complex interventions - interventions which are made up of many interconnecting parts. The guidance is intended to help researchers to choose appropriate methods, research funders to understand the constraints on evaluation design, and users of evaluation to weigh up the available evidence in light of these methodological and practical constraints.
Complex interventions guidance