Spending wisely: Investigating survey mode effects in discrete choice experiment responses

为了从病人或公众那里收集信息，研究人员经常使用调查。在卫生经济学中，调查被用来询问病人或公众他们想要什么样的国民健康服务（NHS）。通常情况下，这些调查是通过邮寄的方式随机抽样的。随着时间的推移，回答邮政调查的人数减少了，最近研究人员转向互联网收集信息。与邮政调查相比，网络调查有几个优势：它们更便宜，更快，可以包括图片或视频。但是，使用互联网可能会改变回答调查的人、他们回答调查问题的方式，以及他们提供准确答案的难易程度。并不是每个英国人都能接入并使用互联网：27%的英国人不能通过拨号连接或宽带连接互联网。平均而言，没有互联网接入的人年龄更大，更贫穷，更不可能生活在英格兰东南部。此外，不能要求随机抽样的英国互联网用户来完成调查。首先，没有所有电子邮件地址的数据库。其次，即使有，向人们发送未经请求的电子邮件（SPAM）也是非法的。由于这些原因，利用互联网收集信息的研究人员通常会向市场研究公司付费，以访问他们的“在线面板”。在英国，这些在线小组是一群自愿回答市场研究公司在线调查的人，以换取奖励（金钱、代金券或参加抽奖）。市场研究公司在许多网站和搜索引擎上做广告，鼓励人们做志愿者。2010年，美国民意研究协会（AAPOR）建议“当研究目标之一是准确估计人口价值时，研究人员应该避免（志愿者）在线小组”。研究使用网络调查来收集有关患者或公众对医疗保健的偏好的信息，但很少有人测试网络调查是否得出与邮寄或在人们家中进行访谈的调查不同的结果。本研究项目的目的是集中在这方面的知识差距和测试，如果收集调查信息的不同方式影响研究的结果。特别是，互联网调查中报告的偏好是否与邮政调查或访谈中报告的偏好不同？我们将比较四种收集调查信息的方式：网络小组调查、邮寄调查、邮寄邀请完成网络调查和面对面访谈。我们将对一项调查的答案进行比较，该调查询问了公众使用社区药房治疗小病的情况。我们将考虑：-每次调查的受访者在多大程度上代表了一般人群-如果人们在不同的调查中给出的答案不同，如果这会导致我们对人们喜欢的社区药剂师服务类型得出不同的结论-如果人们的回答质量在某些调查中比其他调查中更好-收集信息的成本在不同的调查类型中有多大差异。这项研究的结果将有助于研究人员决定未来如何从患者或公众那里收集信息。

To collect information from patients or the general public researchers often use surveys. In health economics, surveys are used to ask patients or the general public about the kind of National Health Service (NHS) they would like. Typically, these surveys have been sent by post to a random sample of people. Over time the number of people who answer postal surveys has decreased, and recently researchers have turned to the internet to collect information. Internet surveys have several advantages compared to postal surveys: they are cheaper, faster, and can include pictures or videos. But using the internet may change who answers the survey, how they answer the survey questions, and how easy it is for them to provide accurate answers.Not everyone in the UK has access to and uses the internet: 27% of the UK population do not have access to the internet either through dial-up connections or broadband. People without internet access are, on average, older, poorer and less likely to live in South-East England than those with access. Furthermore, a random sample of UK internet users cannot be asked to complete the survey. First, there is no database of all email addresses. Second, even if there were, sending people unsolicited email (SPAM) is illegal. For these reasons, researchers using the internet to collect information usually pay market research companies for access their 'online panels'. In the UK, these online panels are groups of people who have volunteered to answer surveys online for market research companies in exchange for rewards (money, vouchers, or entry to a prize draw). Market research companies advertise on many websites and search engines to encourage people to volunteer. In 2010 the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) advised that "researchers should avoid [volunteer] online panels when one of the research objectives is to accurately estimate population values".Studies have used internet surveys to collect information about patients' or the public's preferences for health care, but few have tested if internet surveys give different results than surveys sent by post or interviews in people's home. The aim of this research project is to concentrate on this knowledge gap and test if different ways of collecting survey information affects the study's results. In particular, are the preferences reported in the internet surveys different from those reported in postal surveys or interviews?We will compare four ways to collect survey information: internet panel survey, postal survey, postal invitation to complete an internet survey and in-person interviews. We will compare answers to a survey asking the general public about their use of community pharmacies to manage minor illness. We will consider: - How well respondents to each survey represent the general population - If the answers people give are different across the different surveys and if this would lead us to different conclusions about the type of community pharmacist service people prefer - If the quality of people's answers are better for some surveys than others- By how much the cost of collecting information differs across the different survey types. The results of this research will help researchers to make decisions about how they collect information from patients or the general public in the future.