title: Do canadian researchers and the lay public prioritize biomedical research outcomes equally? A choice experiment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To quantify and compare the preferences of researchers and laypeople in Canada regarding the outcomes of basic biomedical research.
  
  
  METHODS
  In autumn 2010, the authors conducted a cross-sectional, national survey of basic biomedical researchers funded by Canada's national health research agency and a representative sample of Canadian citizens to assess preferences for research outcomes across five attributes using a discrete choice experiment. Attributes included advancing scientific knowledge (assessed by published papers); building research capacity (assessed by trainees); informing decisions in the health products industry (assessed by patents); targeting economic, health, or scientific priorities; and cost. The authors reduced a fractional factorial design (18 pairwise choices plus an opt-out option) to three blocks of six. They also computed part worth utilities, differences in predicted probabilities, and willingness-to-pay values using nested logit models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 3,260 potential researchers, 1,749 (53.65% response rate) completed the questionnaire, along with 1,002 citizens. Researchers and citizens prioritized high-quality scientific outcomes (papers, trainees) over other attributes. Both groups disvalued research targeted at economic priorities relative to health priorities. Researchers granted a premium to proposals targeting scientific priorities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Citizens and researchers fundamentally prioritized the same outcomes for basic biomedical research. Notably, they prioritized traditional scientific outcomes and disvalued the pursuit of economic returns. These findings have implications for how academic medicine assigns incentives and value to basic health research and how biomedical researchers and the public may jointly contribute to setting the future research agenda.
authors: Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. fiona.miller@utoronto.ca
authors: Fiona A
authors: FA
authors: Miller
authors: Emmanouil
authors: E
authors: Mentzakis
authors: Renata
authors: R
authors: Axler
authors: Pascale
authors: P
authors: Lehoux
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: French
authors: Jean-Eric
authors: JE
authors: Tarride
authors: Walter P
authors: WP
authors: Wodchis
authors: Brenda J
authors: BJ
authors: Wilson
authors: Christopher
authors: C
authors: Longo
authors: Jessica P
authors: JP
authors: Bytautas
authors: Barbara
authors: B
authors: Slater
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000458:organization & administration*; D002170:Canada; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006292:Health Priorities / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000523:psychology*; D011639:Public Opinion; D012108:Research Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires