Testing Numeric Formats for Presenting Data About Treatment Benefits and Harms

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The purpose of this study is to test comprehension of five numeric formats used to present data about treatment benefits and harms.

Official Title
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Testing Numeric Formats for Presenting Data About Treatment Benefits and Harms

Conditions
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Risk Communication

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Presentation of drug efficacy and side effect data


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion criteria Participants will be randomly selected from a research panel of more than 60,000 U.S. households (Knowledge Networks).

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Percentage format only<br>Numbers are presented in percentage format (e.g., 35%, 0.2%) only. | Other: Presentation of drug efficacy and side effect data<br>* Data presented in 1 of 5 numeric formats in each arm: percentage only, fixed frequency only, variable frequency, variable combination and fixed combination format.<br>|
| Experimental: Fixed frequency format only<br>Numbers are presented in fixed frequency format only (5 out of 1000, 0.6 out of 1000). Denominators remains the same for each number. | Other: Presentation of drug efficacy and side effect data<br>* Data presented in 1 of 5 numeric formats in each arm: percentage only, fixed frequency only, variable frequency, variable combination and fixed combination format.<br>|
| Experimental: Variable frequency format<br>Frequency denominators are adjusted to keep the numerator greater than 1, so they may change throughout the survey (e.g., 6 out of 1000, 42 out of 100) | Other: Presentation of drug efficacy and side effect data<br>* Data presented in 1 of 5 numeric formats in each arm: percentage only, fixed frequency only, variable frequency, variable combination and fixed combination format.<br>|
| Active Comparator: Fixed combination format<br>Numbers are presented with both percentages and frequencies, and frequency denominators remain fixed (e.g., _ out of 1000). | Other: Presentation of drug efficacy and side effect data<br>* Data presented in 1 of 5 numeric formats in each arm: percentage only, fixed frequency only, variable frequency, variable combination and fixed combination format.<br>|
| Experimental: Variable combination format<br>Numbers are presented with both percentages and frequencies, but frequency denominators may vary (e.g., _ out of 1000, _ out of 100). | Other: Presentation of drug efficacy and side effect data<br>* Data presented in 1 of 5 numeric formats in each arm: percentage only, fixed frequency only, variable frequency, variable combination and fixed combination format.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Comprehension questions (e.g., overall direction of effect and specific numeric data) |  | 0 weeks (assessed during intervention) | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Risk perceptions (e.g., how big or small is the benefit)and preferences (e.g., did the box help subjects understand the benefits) assessed via Internet surveys. |  | 0 weeks (assessed during intervention) | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Numeracy