has passed double-blind, random-assignment, placebo-controlled test

[GoodTaste]

Should"random-assignment" be "random-assigned"?

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Another problem is that TCM practitioners are used to make exaggerative and dubious claims about its efficacy and fool too many people. Although almost none of TCM treatments has passed double-blind, random-assignment, placebo-controlled test, most Chinese believe that TCM has always been the best medicine and can cure almost any diseases. The national pride complicates the issue, and criticizing TCM is unthinkable to many Chinese people and almost like committing a traitorous act.

Source

 

[GoesStation]

Like the other two modifiers before "test", random-assignment is a compound adjective. I think it's okay as written. I don't think your change would be correct.

 

[Tarheel]

Should"random-assignment" be "random-assigned"?

----------------------
Another problem is that TCM practitioners are used to making exaggerative and dubious claims about its efficacy and fool too many people. Although almost none of the TCM treatments have passed double-blind, random-assignment, placebo-controlled tests, most Chinese believe that TCM has always been the best medicine and can cure almost any disease. National pride complicates the issue, and criticizing TCM is unthinkable to many Chinese people and almost like committing a traitorous act.

Source

Please note the changes.

 

[GoodTaste]

Like the other two modifiers before "test", random-assignment is a compound adjective. I think it's okay as written. I don't think your change would be correct.

How about "randomly-assigned"? The original text is: has passed double-blind, random-assignment, placebo-controlled test.

There are three adjectives before "test": Adj (1): double-blind, Adj (2):random-assignment, Adj (3): placebo-controlled.

The form "random-assignment" itself is a noun. It serves as an adjective in the sentence.

The form "randomly-assigned" itself is an adjective. Why is it wrong to use it there?

 

[GoodTaste]

Please note the changes.

Your second change or rewriting is "Although almost none of the TCM treatments have passed double-blind, random-assignment, placebo-controlled tess."

The subject of the clause is "none", and the verb is "have passed." So we have "none have passed," which is special to me. It seems to me that "none has passed" is grammatical.

 

[GoesStation]

The form "random-assignment" itself is a noun. It serves as an adjective in the sentence.

The form "randomly-assigned" itself is an adjective. Why is it wrong to use it there?

You'd have the phrase randomly-assigned test. That's a grammatical phrase but it doesn't make sense because it's not the test which is assigned randomly. I understand a random-assignment test to be a type of test in which the dependent variables are assigned at random to the subjects.

 

[GoodTaste]

Looks like that "randomly-assigned" is quite misleading.

 

[Raymott]

I think the point is that scientific procedures like this have certain traditional names. So if it's called a "random-assignment test", that's what it is. You don't get to change the name of the test because you don't like the grammar.
In any case, I just did a Google search, and it seems that it's usually called a "random assignment test" without the hyphen - although the other two are hyphenated.

 

[Tarheel]

Your second change or rewriting is "Although almost none of the TCM treatments have passed double-blind, random-assignment, placebo-controlled tess."

The subject of the clause is "none", and the verb is "have passed." So we have "none have passed," which is special to me. It seems to me that "none has passed" is grammatical.

The word "tess" was a typo. I fixed it.

[Edited to note that it should read: "None of the treatments have passed double-blind...tests."]

 

[GoodTaste]

I think the point is that scientific procedures like this have certain traditional names. So if it's called a "random-assignment test", that's what it is. You don't get to change the name of the test because you don't like the grammar.
In any case, I just did a Google search, and it seems that it's usually called a "random assignment test" without the hyphen - although the other two are hyphenated.

Can we simply use "randomized" instead of "random assignment"? I read a headline article in NEJM (the leading medical science magazine in the world), which reads:

We performed two phase 3, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel-group trials comparing mepolizumab (100 mg in METREX, 100 or 300 mg in METREO) with placebo, given as a subcutaneous injection every 4 weeks for 52 weeks in patients with COPD who had a history of moderate or severe exacerbations while taking inhaled glucocorticoid-based triple maintenance therapy. (Source)

 

[Raymott]

If you're confident that "randomized test" means the same as "random assignment test", in the area of discourse, I don't see why not.