Exploring social preferences for health and wellbeing across the digital divide: a qualitative investigation based on tasks taken from an online discrete choice experiment

Increasingly, discrete choice experiments (DCEs) are conducted online, with little consideration of the digitally-excluded, who are unable to participate. Policymakers or others considering online research data need clarity about how views might differ across this 'digital divide'. We took tasks from an existing online DCE designed to elicit social preferences for health and wellbeing outcomes. We aimed to explore: i) How telephone interview participants answered a series of choice tasks taken from an online DCE; and ii) Whether and how decision-making for these tasks differed between digitally-excluded and non-excluded participants. Semi-structured telephone interviews with members of the public (n=27), recruited via an existing social research panel. Data were analysed thematically to identify key approaches to decision making. Twelve participants were classed as 'digitally-excluded', and 15 as 'digitally non-excluded'. Responses were similar between the two samples for the majority of choice tasks. We identified three approaches used to reach decisions: (1) simplifying; (2) creating explanatory narratives; and (3) personalising. Whilst these approaches were common across both samples, understanding the exercise appeared more challenging for the digitally- excluded sample. This novel study provides some assurance that the participants' views over the choice tasks used are similar across the digital divide. The challenges we identify with understanding highlight the need to be careful examining the views held by the digitally-excluded. If online data are to inform policy-making, it is essential to explore the views of those who cannot participate in online DCEs. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.]