Continuous evidence monitoring, coded for rigor
What this tool does
The What Works Crawler continuously monitors the scientific literature — peer-reviewed publications (via PubMed) and registered clinical trials (via ClinicalTrials.gov) — for evidence about interventions in problem areas our team defines. Each new study is automatically screened for relevance and coded on the Maryland Scientific Methods Scale (SMS), a five-point rating of methodological rigor where Level 5 is a randomized controlled trial and Level 4 is a strong quasi-experimental design.
Treatments are then classified by the weight of the evidence behind them:
PROVEN — validated by at least three Level 4 or 5 studies with positive results EMERGING — one or two Level 4/5 studies with positive results NOVEL — proposed or promising, but not yet tested at Level 4 rigor
Machine codings are drafted by an AI classifier and are provisional until a search administrator validates them against the underlying study.
Active monitoring areas
Opioid abatement and treatment interventions (nationwide, incl. settlement-funded)
0 relevant studies · 0 proven / 0 emerging / 0 novel treatments · last crawl: pending first run
No treatments identified yet — the crawler is still gathering evidence.