Generalizability vs. Transportability in Trials

llynn: > I do not find Sackett’s formulation particularly illuminating. A randomized trial estimates an average treatment effect, not the effect for any specific patient. This is true whether or not an individual patient participated in the trial. The relevant question is not trial participation, but whether the causal mechanism tested in the trial is operative in the patient under consideration. There is literally nothing you said that disagrees with Sackett’s approach…