E‐learning and health inequality aversion: a questionnaire experiment

Cookson, Richard, Ali, Shehzad, Tsuchiya, Aki and Asaria, Miqdad ORCID: 0000-0002-3538-4417 (2018) E‐learning and health inequality aversion: a questionnaire experiment. Health Economics. ISSN 1057-9230

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Abstract

In principle, questionnaire data on public views about hypothetical trade‐offs between improving total health and reducing health inequality can provide useful normative health inequality aversion parameter benchmarks for policymakers faced with real trade‐offs of this kind. However, trade‐off questions can be hard to understand, and one standard type of question finds that a high proportion of respondents—sometimes a majority—appear to give exclusive priority to reducing health inequality. We developed and tested two e‐learning interventions designed to help respondents understand this question more completely. The interventions were a video animation, exposing respondents to rival points of view, and a spreadsheet‐based questionnaire that provided feedback on implied trade‐offs. We found large effects of both interventions in reducing the proportion of respondents giving exclusive priority to reducing health inequality, though the median responses still implied a high degree of health inequality aversion and—unlike the video—the spreadsheet‐based intervention introduced a substantial new minority of non‐egalitarian responses. E‐learning may introduce as well as avoid biases but merits further research and may be useful in other questionnaire studies involving trade‐offs between conflicting values.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10991050
Additional Information:	© 2018 The Authors
Divisions:	LSE Health
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Date Deposited:	23 Jul 2018 15:19
Last Modified:	03 Nov 2024 00:24
Projects:	NIHR SRF‐2013‐06‐015
Funders:	Centre for Chronic Diseases and Disorders, National Institute for Health Research
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/89393

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