Advocates can be involved in many different roles.

These include being involved in:

• Trial design before the study is finalised.
• Wording of patient information sheets and informed consent.
• Publicising good research to help study enrolment.
• Highlighting poor or inappropriate research.
• Taking an educational role to explain benefits and risks of a study to community groups.
• Being an independent advisor for whether a trial is appropriate for an individual patient.
• Joining a trial steering committee and following enrolment, trial practice and early results.
• Joining a Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB).
• Reporting and critically commenting on results after they are publicly presented at medical meetings or published.
• Suggesting additional analysis of study results.
• Ensuring results are presented and published publically and in time while they are still relevant.
• Ensuring study participants are informed of the results of the research that they have been involved in.