Abstract
PurposeTraditionally, researchers have relied on eliciting preferences through face-to-face interviews. Recently, there has been a shift towards using internet-based methods. Different methods of data collection may be a source of variation in the results. In this study, we compare the preferences for the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT) service user measure elicited using best–worst scaling (BWS) via a face-to-face interview and an online survey.MethodsData were collected from a representative sample of the general population in England. The respondents (face-to-face: n = 500; online: n = 1001) completed a survey, which included the BWS experiment involving the ASCOT measure. Each respondent received eight best–worst scenarios and made four choices (best, second best, worst, second worst) in each scenario. Multinomial logit regressions were undertaken to analyse the data taking into account differences in the characteristics of the two samples and the repeated nature of the data.ResultsWe initially found a number of small significant differences in preferences between the two methods across all ASCOT domains. These differences were substantially reduced—from 15 to 5 out of 30 coefficients being different at the 5% level—and remained small in value after controlling for differences in observable and unobservable characteristics of the two samples.ConclusionsThis comparison demonstrates that face-to-face and internet surveys may lead to fairly similar preferences for social care-related quality of life when differences in sample characteristics are controlled for. With or without a constant sampling frame, studies should carefully design the BWS exercise and provide similar levels of clarification to participants in each survey to minimise the amount of error variance in the choice process.
Highlights
Measurement of the outcomes that people experience in using health and care services is a well-established and routinely used approach to assessing those services
The specific aim of this paper is to compare preferences elicited from face-to-face and internet surveys for the best–worst scaling (BWS) task using the Adult Social Care Outcomes Toolkit (ASCOT) service user measure
Different administration methods have been used in the literature to elicit preferences; from paper-or computer-based face-to-face interviews to online surveys
Summary
Measurement of the outcomes that people experience in using health and care services is a well-established and routinely used approach to assessing those services This approach relies on robust and comprehensive outcome indicators that capture the relative preferences that people place on the range of ways that services can impact their quality of life. Preference studies have used face-to-face interviews with a paper-and-pencil or later with the assistance of a computer interface, with the interviewer being present These are costly and time-consuming methods, which constrain how quickly the evidence-based practice can be. There has been a shift towards internet surveys to gather such data [1,2,3,4] This method was used in a cross-national project to evaluate the impact of long-term care—the EXCELC project.. This method was used in a cross-national project to evaluate the impact of long-term care—the EXCELC project. It was important to assess the robustness of internet-based approaches in comparison to face-to-face approaches; part of the study used both methods
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