Ambassadors of hope, research pioneers and agents of change—individuals’ expectations and experiences of taking part in a randomised trial of an innovative health technology: longitudinal qualitative study

Background While a growing body of research has explored why people take part in clinical trials, this research has not considered how people’s understandings, motivations and agendas might influence their conduct during a trial. This is an important area of enquiry because it is now widely recognised that an intervention might lead to different clinical outcomes when delivered as part of a trial than when implemented in routine clinical practice; however, the reasons for this are not fully understood.