Applying conjoint analysis in economic evaluations: an application to menorrhagia
- 1 June 2000
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Applied Economics
- Vol. 32 (7), 823-833
- https://doi.org/10.1080/000368400322165
Abstract
The increased demand for health care, coupled with limited resources, means that decisions have to be made concerning the allocation of scarce health care resources. This paper considers how conjoint analysis (CA) can be used to aid this decision making process. It is shown how the technique can be used to estimate marginal rates of substitution between attributes, willingness to pay (WTP) if cost is included as an attribute and overall utility scores for different ways of providing a service. The technique is applied to consider women's preferences for two surgical procedures in the treatment of menorrhagia: hysterectomy and conservative surgery. The results suggest conservative surgery is preferred to hysterectomy, as indicated by higher utility scores for the former and a marginal WTP of 7593 to have conservative surgery rather than hysterectomy. The internal validity of CA was also shown. It is concluded that CA is a potentially useful instrument for policy makers. However, numerous methodological issues need addressing before the technique becomes an established instrument within economic evaluations.Keywords
This publication has 24 references indexed in Scilit:
- Strategic overbidding in contingent valuation: Stated economic value of public goods varies according to consumers expectations of funding sourceJournal of Economic Psychology, 1998
- Does “process utility” exist? A case study of willingness to pay for laparoscopic cholecystectomySocial Science & Medicine, 1997
- Using willingness to pay to value alternative models of antenatal careSocial Science & Medicine, 1997
- Willingness to pay for antenatal carrier screening for cystic fibrosisHealth Economics, 1995
- The Disutility of Time Spent on the United Kingdom's National Health Service Waiting ListsThe Journal of Human Resources, 1995
- Stated preference analysis of travel choices: the state of practiceTransportation, 1994
- Contingent Valuation of Time Spent on NHS Waiting ListsThe Economic Journal, 1990
- Evaluation of Conjoint Analysis Results: A Comparison of MethodsJournal of Marketing Research, 1980
- A New Approach to Consumer TheoryJournal of Political Economy, 1966
- Simultaneous conjoint measurement: A new type of fundamental measurementJournal of Mathematical Psychology, 1964