TY - CHAP
T1 - The influence of crowds on consumer health decisions
T2 - 13th World Congress on Medical and Health Informatics, Medinfo 2010
AU - Lau, Annie Y S
AU - Kwok, Trevor M Y
AU - Coiera, Enrico
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - This paper presents an online prospective study investigating whether the strength of social feedback, i.e. the proportion of persons who concur or do not concur with one's own answer to a question, influences the way one answers health-related questions. Two hundred and twenty-seven undergraduate students were recruited to use an online search engine to answer six health-related questions. Subjects recorded their pre- and post-search answers to each question and their level of confidence in these answers. After answering each question post-search, subjects were presented with a summary of post-search answers provided by previous subjects and were asked to answer the question again. There was a statistically significant relationship between the absolute number of others with a different answer (the crowd's opinion volume) and the likelihood of an individual changing an answer (P <.0001). Subjects' likelihood of changing answer increased as the percentage of others with a different answer (the crowd's opinion density) increased (P = 0.047). Overall, 98.3% of subjects did not change their answer when it concurred with the majority (i.e. > 50%) of subjects. When subjects had a post-search answer that did not concur with the majority, they were 24% more likely to change answer than those with answers that concurred (P <.0001). This study provides empirical evidence that strength of social feedback influences the way healthcare consumers answer health-related questions.
AB - This paper presents an online prospective study investigating whether the strength of social feedback, i.e. the proportion of persons who concur or do not concur with one's own answer to a question, influences the way one answers health-related questions. Two hundred and twenty-seven undergraduate students were recruited to use an online search engine to answer six health-related questions. Subjects recorded their pre- and post-search answers to each question and their level of confidence in these answers. After answering each question post-search, subjects were presented with a summary of post-search answers provided by previous subjects and were asked to answer the question again. There was a statistically significant relationship between the absolute number of others with a different answer (the crowd's opinion volume) and the likelihood of an individual changing an answer (P <.0001). Subjects' likelihood of changing answer increased as the percentage of others with a different answer (the crowd's opinion density) increased (P = 0.047). Overall, 98.3% of subjects did not change their answer when it concurred with the majority (i.e. > 50%) of subjects. When subjects had a post-search answer that did not concur with the majority, they were 24% more likely to change answer than those with answers that concurred (P <.0001). This study provides empirical evidence that strength of social feedback influences the way healthcare consumers answer health-related questions.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=78649506604&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/300435
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/300591
U2 - 10.3233/978-1-60750-588-4-33
DO - 10.3233/978-1-60750-588-4-33
M3 - Chapter
C2 - 20841645
AN - SCOPUS:78649506604
SN - 9781607505877
VL - 160
T3 - Studies in Health Technology and Informatics
SP - 33
EP - 37
BT - Medinfo 2010
A2 - Safran, C.
A2 - Reti, S.
A2 - Marin, H.F.
PB - IOS Press
CY - Amsterdam
Y2 - 12 September 2010 through 15 September 2010
ER -