3 PRIMARY ANALYSIS
3.1 Core Elements
Can CORE elements of the bills be objectively understood to a sufficient degree? How does each version of the bill compare to the basic Paginated template on this criterion?
Core elements:
- Amount due
- Due date
- Payment methods
Coded as an integer between 0 and 3. Receive 1 point for each CORE element correctly answered
On average, consumers understood approximately 2 out of 3 core elements.
Compared to those who viewed the Paginated bill, objective comprehension of core elements was higher for consumers who viewed the Detailed Paginated or Unpaginated bills. These differences were statistically significant, even after correcting for multiple comparisons (corrected ps < .05). Comprehension of core elements was therefore adequate for all bills, but better for the Detailed Paginated or Unpaginated bills.
| OLS | OLS | |
|---|---|---|
| (Intercept) | 2.33 *** | 1.66 *** |
| (0.04) | (0.10) | |
| Alternative paginated | -0.02 | -0.05 |
| (0.06) | (0.05) | |
| Detailed paginated | 0.15 ** | 0.14 ** |
| (0.05) | (0.05) | |
| Unpaginated | 0.15 ** | 0.13 ** |
| (0.06) | (0.05) | |
| Covariates included | No | Yes |
| N | 2,010 | 2,010 |
| *** p < 0.001; ** p < 0.01; * p < 0.05; + p < 0.1. | ||
3.1.1 Breakdown of Results
The plots in this section are for exploratory purposes only. Refer to the Appendix for a complete list of consumers’ responses to each comprehension question.
How many CORE elements did consumers comprehend?
Approximately 60% of consumers understood all three elements, and approximately 85% understood at least two elements.
Which CORE elements did consumers have the most/least difficulty with?
Amount Due
There were no notable differences between conditions in comprehension of the Amount Due.
For the Paginated, Unpaginated, and Alternative Paginated bills, the most common incorrect response was 120.00 (rounding the correct answer to the nearest dollar). For the Detailed Paginated bill, the most common incorrect responses were 139.07 (the ‘TOTAL BILL’ amount) and 139.00 (the ‘TOTAL BILL’ amount, rounded to the nearest dollar), 10.93 (the ‘FINAL BALANCE’ amount), and 150 (the ‘PAYMENT RECEIVED’ amount).
Due Date
There were differences between conditions in comprehension of the Due Date.
Comprehension of the Due Date was higher for the Detailed Paginated bill (where the bill had already been paid), followed by the Unpaginated bill. For the Paginated, Unpaginated, and Alternative Paginated bills, the most common incorrect response was ‘This bill has already been paid’, followed by 22nd April (perhaps because ‘22’ looks like ‘27’) and 31st March (the final date of the billing period).
Payment Methods
There were differences between conditions in comprehension of the Payment Methods.
Comprehension of the Payment Methods was lower for the Detailed Paginated bill. This is likely because there were fewer ‘correct’ answers for this bill (i.e., the only correct answers were ‘Not applicable - this bill has already been paid’ or ‘Direct Debit’).
