RemedyFind weighting

[Guest guest]

This is from Brett Hodges of RemedyFind

-Sullivan

After doing some thinking about how to weight the evaluation criteria

so that the most important criteria (like " effectiveness " ) contribute

more to the average, and the less important factors (like " ease of

use " and " effective with long-term use " ) contribute less, we came up

with the following formula.

Effectiveness 55% of total score

Lack of side effects 25% of total score

Ease of use 7.5% of total score

Effective with long-term use 2.5% of total score

Cost effectiveness (value for money) 10% of total score

You will notice that we've changed the title " Overall Rating "

to " Weighted Rating " to reflect this change in how we are tallying

the scores. Please remember that there's no " gold standard " to how

rating systems like Remedyfind's must be set up. It's really a

subjective call as to which criteria are felt to be the most

important, and then assigning each criteria its own weighted value.

After talking with several physicians, and getting input from a few

members, we've come up with this formula. It may not be perfect, but

we feel it does a better job in communicating what is really

important in comparing health treatments than a simple averaging can

do. And it's open to change. If you feel that any of these criteria

is being emphasized too much, or that another is not getting enough

credit, please let us know your thoughts. If enough members feel the

same way we can change the formula accordingly.