Consumers' satisfaction with health care delivery: issues of measurement, issues of research design

The measurement and tracking of patient satisfaction is an area of increasing importance today. Because of this importance, researchers have begun to more closely examine conceptual, operational and research design issues implicated in this measurement. In this context, this paper focuses on selected research design issues. Three key issues are discussed; namely, appropriate measures, item phrasing and data collection approaches. Issues, problem areas and suggested recommendations are provided. We hope our discussion will help future researchers achieve better and more meaningful measurement of patient satisfaction.