Valuing citizen and patient preferences in health: recent developments in three types of best–worst scaling

Abstract

There is increased interest in the use of best–worst scaling (BWS) as a method of preference elicitation in health. However, the method is undergoing rapid development in several fields, making dissemination of new insights challenging. Furthermore, there are two types of BWS that have hitherto received little interest in health, but that are uniquely placed to address certain issues. This article offers an update of the state of play of BWS, presents original research to illustrate new methods of analysis and introduces to health researchers some issues on the research frontier.

Keywords::

• best–worst scaling
• conjoint analysis
• discrete choice experiments
• rating scales
• visual analog scales

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank Tony Marley for comments on an earlier draft and acknowledges the ICECAP valuation team, particularly Jordan Louviere, Joanna Coast and Tim Peters.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The author has no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.