Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) estimate the utility derived from health profiles by taking account of life expectancy and quality of life. In applying QALYs to situations where health varies over time, it is usual to assume that we can add the utilities from constituent health states. This...

This paper sets out to explore the extent to which perceptions regarding the 'badness' of different types of deaths differ according to how those deaths are 'labelled' in the elicitation procedure. In particular, we were interested in whether responses to 'contextual' questions - where the...

In a pilot study we investigate whether the inferences we draw about people's preferences towards health care treatments are altered if we vary the procedure that is used to elicit these preferences. In a conventional time trade-off (TTO) question, respondents express their preferences towards...

We consider the impact of introducing intermediate stages, chained together, into the standard gamble (SG) and time trade-off (TTO) methods. Less is known about the impact of intermediate stages, chained together, in the TTO method. We broadly replicate the patterns of responses observed in...

The conventional time trade off (TTO) method relies on fundamentally different procedures to assess states better than and worse than dead. Arbitrary transformation mechanisms are then applied to worse than dead scores in order to achieve symmetry with those rated as better than dead. We use a...

Discrimination, in all its forms, has increasingly become an issue within the personnel profession. The various Acts of Parliament have essentially provided some guidelines for those in positions which have regular contact with both the public and individuals and groups at work.