Table 4. Relative weights of each of the seven factors reported by Chaput de Saintonge et al for each of the four hypothetical studies.

Each variable was assigned a point value specific to each study, which was based on its burden or risk and multiplied to account for study duration, multiple drugs, or number of blood draws. That value was then multiplied by a factor determined by the variable’s relative importance to the medical students studied by Chaput de Saintonge et al, and the resulting relative burden scores for each variable were added to get the “total burden score.”

	Relative Burden Scores
Factor	Investigational Drug study	Plant Extract Study	HIV study	Malaria Challenge study
Previous testing	71	24	24	71
Unwanted effects	56	19	37	56
Study duration	12	24	36	24
Days in unit	18	342	144	0
Type of drug	13	13	38	13
Route of administration	16	16	48	16
Invasiveness of procedure	75	96	188	128
Total Burden Score	261	534	515	308