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Laura Rosen, PhD, Orly Manor, PhD, Dan Engelhard, MD and David Zucker, PhD

Laura Rosen and Orly Manor are with the Hebrew University School of Public Health, Jerusalem, Israel. Dan Engelhard is with the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem. David Zucker is with Hebrew University, Jerusalem.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Laura Rosen, PhD, Hebrew University School of Public Health, PO Box 12272, Jerusalem, Israel 91120 (e-mail: lrosen{at}vms.huji.ac.il).

The overwhelming evidence about the role lifestyle plays in mortality, morbidity, and quality of life has pushed the young field of modern health promotion to center stage. The field is beset with intense debate about appropriate evaluation methodologies. Increasingly, randomized designs are considered inappropriate for health promotion research.

We have reviewed criticisms against randomized trials that raise philosophical and practical issues, and we will show how most of these criticisms can be overcome with minor design modifications. By providing rebuttal to arguments against randomized trials, our work contributes to building a sound methodological base for health promotion research.

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