Table 2.

Important uncertainties about how to present evidence-based information about the effects of interventions to people making decisions

Question	What is known	Research that is needed
What are the effects of alternative visual displays of intervention effects on understanding and users’ experience of the information?	Not all visual displays are more intuitive than text or numbers, some visual displays can be misleading, some may require explanation in order for people to understand them and people tend to prefer simplicity and familiarity, which may not be associated with accurate quantitative judgements.50 53 56 57 63 64	Design and user testing of ways of visualising effects of multiple outcomes; randomised trials comparing different graphs or visualisations to each other and to information (tables and text) without visualisations and a systematic review of those trials.
What are the effects of positive versus negative framing for different types of decisions on people’s understanding and decisions?	Low to moderate certainty evidence suggests that both attribute and goal framing may have little if any consistent effect on patients’ behaviour.58 Unexplained heterogeneity between studies suggests the possibility of a framing effect under specific conditions.	Randomised trials comparing positive to negative framing for different types of decisions and a systematic review of those trials.
When should CIs be reported and how should they be presented and explained?	Although CIs are more informative than p values, CIs can also be misinterpreted.43 65 66 There are pros and cons to reporting CIs and little evidence to support a recommendation either to include them or exclude them, or how to present and explain them, if they are included. Deciding whether and how to report CIs may depend on the target audience.	User testing of ways of presenting and explaining CIs; randomised trials comparing different ways of presenting and explaining CIs to other ways and to not presenting CIs and a systematic review of those trials.
What are the effects of interactive presentations of information about the effects of interventions compared with static presentations, on comprehension, ease of use and usefulness in decision-making for people across a broad range of target audiences?	Different people prefer different types of presentation formats, and access information for different reasons that require different amount of detail. Instead of offering multiple tailored static formats to different audiences, an alternative solution is making multiple types of presentations available to all viewers through an interactive solution. Unpublished qualitative data from a failed trial with patients and the public59 suggest that there may be mixed preferences for an interactive versus a static presentation. There is also uncertainty about which initial presentation to use for interactive presentations.	Design and user testing of interactive presentations; randomised trials comparing interactive to static presentations in a heterogeneous group, comparing alternative initial presentations across different subgroups and a systematic review of this evidence.
What are the effects of including stories of patients’ experiences in patient information?	People want this information and value it.20	Design and user testing of ways of incorporating patients’ experiences, including the use of patients’ stories to describe treatment benefits and harms or to describe the treatment or condition; randomised trials comparing information with and without patients’ experiences and a systematic review of this evidence.
What are the effects of audio and video presentations of information about the effects of interventions on peoples’ understanding, decisions and experience of the information?	Audio and video presentations are likely to be helpful for people with poor reading skills and some people may prefer these presentations either as an alternative or as a supplement to reading.	Design and user testing of audio and video presentations; randomised trials comparing information with and without audio and video presentations and a systematic review of this evidence.