CAREER: Choosing Wisely: Leveraging User-Generated Doctor Ratings

这项研究将促进我们对互联网上用户生成的医生评级的了解，从而为改进这些系统提供基础，并为更好的消费者选择增加它们的价值。通过这样做，这项研究将在我们对在线声誉系统的理解方面取得更广泛的进步。这项研究有三个目的：(1)检查在线医生评级的供应，包括其流行率、增长趋势和影响评级发布行为的因素；(2)评估在线医生评级的信息性，特别是这些评级是否真实地反映了医生的质量，或者这些评级是否具有偏见和误导性；(3)了解在线医生评级的使用和影响。尽管在线医生评级越来越受欢迎，但令人惊讶的是，关于这一新兴趋势的研究很少。是什么促使患者提供在线评级？这些评分在多大程度上反映了医生的临床质量？患者如何使用这些评级，他们的决定因此受到怎样的影响？在哪些情况下，患者在使用在线医生评级时应该谨慎？能否改进用户界面设计和信息显示，使评级更有用？这项研究是对这些基本问题的首次系统研究。研究结果将对医疗保健质量透明度的政策和实践产生直接影响。对于需要更多医疗服务的老年人来说，它们将特别有益，但它们也将被纳入新的大学课程。此外，研究完成后，研究方法和非专利数据将会公开，以进一步加强研究和教育基础设施。

This research will advance our knowledge of user-generated doctor ratings on the Internet, thereby providing the basis for improving these systems and increasing their value for better consumer choices. In so doing, the research will achieve a more general advance in our understanding of online reputation systems. The study has three aims: (1) to examine the supply of online doctor ratings, including their prevalence, growth trends, and the factors that affect rating posting behavior; (2) to assess the informedness of online doctor ratings, especially whether these ratings truly reflect the quality of the doctor or whether they are biased and misleading, and (3) to understand the use and impacts of online doctor ratings.Despite the growing popularity of online physician ratings, there is surprisingly little study of this emerging trend. What motivates patients to provide online ratings? To what degree do the ratings reflect a doctor's clinical quality? How do patients use these ratings, and how are their decisions affected as a result? In what situations should patients be cautious when using online doctor ratings? Can the user interface design and information display be improved to make the ratings more useful? The research represents the first systematic study of these fundamental questions.Findings from this study will have a direct impact on the policy and practice of quality transparency in healthcare. They will be particularly beneficial for senior citizens, who require more medical services, but they also will be incorporated into new college curriculum. Furthermore, upon completion of the study, the methods and non-proprietary data will be made publicly available to further enhance the research and education infrastructure.