مقایسهٔ روش‌ها

	آزمایش پایلوت چند بازو	آزمایش تصادفی کنترل‌شده پایلوت
حوزه	طراحی آزمایش	طراحی آزمایش
خانواده	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
سال پیدایش	1990s–2000s	1990s–2000s (methodological formalization)
پدیدآور	Evolved from clinical trial methodology; consolidated in the 1990s–2000s	Formalized through clinical trials methodology community
نوع	Experimental design (pilot/feasibility)	Experimental feasibility design
منبع بنیادین	Thabane, L., Ma, J., Chu, R., Cheng, J., Ismaila, A., Rios, L. P., Robson, R., Thabane, M., Giangregorio, L., & Goldsmith, C. H. (2010). A tutorial on pilot studies: The what, why and how. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 10(1), 1.	Thabane, L., Ma, J., Chu, R., Cheng, J., Ismaila, A., Rios, L. P., ... & Goldsmith, C. H. (2010). A tutorial on pilot studies: the what, why and how. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 10(1), 1.
نام‌های دیگر	pilot multi-arm trial, feasibility multi-arm study, pilot parallel-arm experiment, preliminary multi-arm experiment	pilot RCT, feasibility RCT, pilot trial, preliminary RCT
مرتبط	6	5
خلاصه	A pilot multi-arm experiment is a small-scale preliminary trial that tests the feasibility, logistics, and parameter estimates needed to plan a full-scale multi-arm study. It simultaneously evaluates two or more active treatment arms alongside a control, providing early evidence on recruitment rates, retention, protocol adherence, variability, and likely effect sizes before committing to a resource-intensive definitive experiment.	A pilot randomized controlled trial (pilot RCT) is a small-scale, fully randomized experiment conducted before a definitive RCT to test the feasibility of study procedures, estimate key parameters such as recruitment rates and effect-size variability, and identify practical barriers. It uses the same randomization, intervention, and measurement protocol as the planned full trial but on a fraction of the target sample. The goal is not to confirm efficacy but to refine and justify the main trial design.