Why is research in palliative care so difficult, after all it is not rocket science, is it? Yet the palliative care literature is replete with reports explaining the challenges of conducting research in our field. Such reports often explain why studies have been difficult to conduct, discussing a wide range of complex issues associated with research structure and process, such as access, recruitment, defining our populations of interest, consent, attrition, ethical issues, funding, research capacity and infrastructure. These are important issues that have had a real effect on the quality and quantity of palliative care research. As an illustration, Cochrane reviews on the pharmacological management of the common, debilitating symptoms …