Innovating Clinical Trials
Welcome to Innovating Clinical Trials, the podcast designed for clinical research professionals eager to deepen their understanding of clinical trials through concise, insightful segments. Join your hosts, Liam Eves and Ted Trafford, as they uncover the core issues in clinical research, reflect on the industry, and challenge conventional wisdom.
Ted Trafford - https://probitymedical.com/
With 30 years of experience in clinical research, Ted serves as the Director of Business Development, driving business growth and leading Feasibility and Site Relationship teams at Probity Medical Research, a clinical trial site administrative support company with a consortium of 75+ sites across four countries. As a writer and speaker, Ted contributes to thought leadership and strategic initiatives in the clinical trials industry, leveraging his extensive experience and creative approach to drive meaningful discussion and progress for Sponsors, CROs, Sites and Technology Vendors.
Liam Eves - https://www.theendpointpodcast.com/
Liam's held executive roles in SMOs and CROs, and led all major functions of trial delivery. His journey into the field began unexpectedly after an injury ended his career as a professional footballer. Over the years Liam has optimized trial delivery methods / systems for effective enrollment and trial delivery. Currently, he focuses on building and advising companies in the clinical trial space.
Opinions expressed are those of the participants and not their employers.
Innovating Clinical Trials
Ep 2.24 The Decision Threshold Matrix: Why Patient Motivation Isn't Fixed and What It Means for Trial Recruitment
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In this episode, Liam and Ted explore one of the most underexamined problems in clinical trial recruitment: patient motivation is not static.
Drawing on real-world experience from a late-night participant funnel audit to an insomnia study no-show Liam introduces two interconnected frameworks: the Decision Threshold Matrix and the Trial Value Equation.
The matrix maps patient motivation across four quadrants defined by disease severity and perceived treatment adequacy. It breaks down how patients unconsciously calculate whether participation is worth it and why trial teams consistently inflate the denominator (burden) without strengthening the numerator (benefit).
Together, these tools offer a behavioral science-grounded lens for understanding when, why, and how patients engage with research and what teams can do about it.
This episode is for anyone working in patient recruitment, site management, or protocol design.