177 research outputs found
Hypothetical and convenience sample biases in value orientations ring games
The social value orientations ring game is often used to identify behavioural types and provide insight regarding choices made by individuals in market or non-market environments. However, research on the impact of providing salient rewards to individuals making choices in the ring game is sparse. As well, the comparison of student and non-student samples with regard to social value orientations is limited. Following literature from other experimental fields, this paper is concerned with the presence of hypothetical bias (i.e. difference between subject behaviour when rewards are not salient (stated intentions) and actual subject behaviour when rewards are salient) and convenience sample bias (i.e. difference in findings of students versus non-student community subjects) in the social value orientation ring game. Looking at the social value orientation measures and their consistency, we find no evidence of hypothetical bias but significant differences when comparing student and community samples. Our findings suggest caution in generalizing value orientation results across different populations while they support the collection of value orientations at lower cost without compromising the consistency of the results.value orientations; hypothetical bias; convenience sample bias
Existence and Magnitude of Health-related Externalities: Evidence from a Choice Experiment
Health-related external benefits are of potentially large importance for public policy. This paper investigates health-related external benefits using a stated-preference discrete-choice experiment framed in a health care context and including choice scenarios dened by six attributes related to the a recipient and the recipient's condition: communicability, severity, medical necessity, relationship to respondent, location, and amount of contribution requested. Subjects also completed a set of own-treatment scenarios and a values-orientation instrument. We find evidence of substantial health-related external benefits that vary as expected with the scenario attributes and subjects' value orientations. The results are consistent with a number of hypotheses offered by the general theoretical analysis of health-related externalities and the analysis of externalities specific to health care.externalities; altruism; health care financing; program evaluation
Modelling Heterogeneity and Uncertainty in Contingent Valuation : an Application to the Valuation of Informal Care
Peer reviewedPostprin
Detecting and characterizing eating-disorder communities on social media
Eating disorders are complex mental disorders and responsible for the highest mortality rate among mental illnesses. Recent studies reveal that user-generated content on social media provides useful information in understanding these disorders. Most previous studies focus on studying communities of people who discuss eating disorders on social media, while few studies have explored community structures and interactions among individuals who suffer from this disease over social media. In this paper, we first develop a snowball sampling method to automatically gather individuals who self-identify as eating disordered in their profile descriptions, as well as their social network connections with one another on Twitter. Then, we verify the effectiveness of our sampling method by: 1. quantifying differences between the sampled eating disordered users and two sets of reference data collected for non-disordered users in social status, behavioral patterns and psychometric properties; 2. building predictive models to classify eating disordered and non-disordered users. Finally, leveraging the data of social connections between eating disordered individuals on Twitter, we present the first homophily study among eating-disorder communities on social media. Our findings shed new light on how an eating-disorder community develops on social media
Survey modes comparison in contingent valuation : Internet panels and mail surveys
Funding Information Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates University of AberdeenPeer reviewedPostprin
Gerrymandering metrics: How to measure? What's the baseline?
This note outlines three intellectually distinct but not mutually exclusive
strategies for measuring partisan gerrymandering: partisan symmetry, efficiency
gap, and algorithmic sampling.Comment: Based on remarks presented at the 2062nd stated meeting of the
American Academy of Arts and Science
Equity and efficiency preferences of health policy makers in China - a stated preference analysis
Background Macroeconomic growth in China enables significant progress in health care and public health. It faces difficult choices regarding access, quality and affordability, while dealing with the increasing burden of chronic diseases. Policymakers are pressured to make complex decisions while implementing health strategies. This study shows how this process could be structured and reports the specific equity and efficiency preferences among Chinese policymakers.Methods In total, 78 regional, provincial and national level policymakers with considerable experience participated in a discrete choice experiment, weighting the relative importance of six policy attributes describing equity and efficiency. Results from a conditional logistic model are presented for the six criteria, measuring the associated weights. Observed and unobserved heterogeneities were incorporated and tested in the model. Findings are used to give an example of ranking health interventions in relation to the present disease burden in China.Results In general, respondents showed strong preference for efficiency criteria i.e. total beneficiaries and cost-effectiveness as the most important attributes in decision making over equity criteria. Hence, priority interventions would be those conditions that are most prevalent in the country and cost least per health gain.Conclusion Although efficiency criteria override equity ones, major health threats in China would be targeted. Multicriteria decision analysis makes explicit important trade-offs between efficiency and equity, leading to explicit, transparent and rational policy makin
Protocol for the CONNECT project: a mixed methods study investigating patient preferences for communication technology use in orthopaedic rehabilitation consultations.
INTRODUCTION: Technology has been placed at the centre of global health policy and has been cited as having the potential to increase efficiency and remove geographical boundaries for patients to access care. Communication technology may support patients with orthopaedic problems, which is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. There are several examples of technology being used in clinical research, although uptake in practice remains low. An understanding of patient preferences will support the design of a communication technology supported treatment pathway for patients undergoing orthopaedic rehabilitation. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This mixed methods project will be conducted in four phases. In phase I, a systematic review of qualitative studies reporting communication technology use for orthopaedic rehabilitation will be conducted to devise a taxonomy of tasks patients' face when using these technologies to access their care. In phase II, qualitative interviews will investigate how the work of being a patient changes during face-to-face and communication technology consultations and how these changes influence preference. In phase III, a discrete choice experiment will investigate the factors that influence preferences for the use of communication technology for orthopaedic rehabilitation consultations. Phase IV will be a practical application of these results. We will design a 'minimally disruptive' communication technology supported pathway for patients undergoing orthopaedic rehabilitation. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The design of a pathway and underpinning patient preference will assist in understanding factors that might influence technology implementation for clinical care. This study requires ethical approval for phases II, III and IV. Approvals have been received for phase II (approval received on 4 December 2016 from the South Central-Oxford C Research Ethics Committee (IRAS ID: 255172, REC Reference 18/SC/0663)) and phase III (approval received on 18 October 2019 from the London-Hampstead Research Ethics Committee (IRAS ID: 248064, REC Reference 19/LO/1586)) and will be sought for phase IV. All participants will provide informed written consent prior to being enrolled onto the study. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42018100896
Public acceptability of population-level interventions to reduce alcohol consumption: a discrete choice experiment.
Public acceptability influences policy action, but the most acceptable policies are not always the most effective. This discrete choice experiment provides a novel investigation of the acceptability of different interventions to reduce alcohol consumption and the effect of information on expected effectiveness, using a UK general population sample of 1202 adults. Policy options included high, medium and low intensity versions of: Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) for alcohol; reducing numbers of alcohol retail outlets; and regulating alcohol advertising. Outcomes of interventions were predicted for: alcohol-related crimes; alcohol-related hospital admissions; and heavy drinkers. First, the models obtained were used to predict preferences if expected outcomes of interventions were not taken into account. In such models around half of participants or more were predicted to prefer the status quo over implementing outlet reductions or higher intensity MUP. Second, preferences were predicted when information on expected outcomes was considered, with most participants now choosing any given intervention over the status quo. Acceptability of MUP interventions increased by the greatest extent: from 43% to 63% preferring MUP of £1 to the status quo. Respondents' own drinking behaviour also influenced preferences, with around 90% of non-drinkers being predicted to choose all interventions over the status quo, and with more moderate than heavy drinkers favouring a given policy over the status quo. Importantly, the study findings suggest public acceptability of alcohol interventions is dependent on both the nature of the policy and its expected effectiveness. Policy-makers struggling to mobilise support for hitherto unpopular but promising policies should consider giving greater prominence to their expected outcomes
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