Let's come to order: The influence of question order on willingness to register as an organ donor

• Published in: Social science & medicine (1982) 2023-05, Vol.324, p.115864-115864, Article 115864
• Main Authors: Blazek, Danielle R., Siegel, Jason T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Humans; Licensure; Motivation; Order effects; Organ donation; Registries; Satisficing; Straightlining; Survey research; Tissue and Organ Procurement; Tissue Donors
• ISSN: 0277-9536; 1873-5347
• DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115864

As over 90% of people who register to be organ donors do so at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), DMVs are perceived as a key context for increasing donor registration rates. Scholars have recently noted that the driver's license application itself, including the placement of the donor registration item relative to other questions, can possibly influence donor registration behavior. The goal of the current study was to experimentally investigate this possibility. We conducted an experiment using Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) between March and May of 2021 to investigate the influence of question order on donor registration willingness. Participants received a question regarding their willingness to register either before or after a series of health and legal questions often asked at DMVs. The placement of the donor registration question had a positive effect on registration willingness for non-registered individuals (OR = 2.01, 95% CI [1.59, 2.54]) and previously registered donors (OR = 2.57, 95% CI [2.22, 2.99]). Changing the question order of driver's license applications has the potential to influence registration rates. •Question order influences organ donation registration willingness.•When donor registration is before other questions, registration is more likely.•When donor registration is after other questions, registration is less likely.•This effect may be driven by straightlining, a type of satisficing.