Table 4

Percentage of responses in each response category to the four survey questions, for each conflict of interest scenario, of each illness group

	Commercial funding			Personal income*			Per capita payment			Researcher patent			University patent			Researcher stocks			University stocks
	H	B	D	H	B	D	H	B	D	H	B	D	H	B	D	H	B	D	H	B	D
H indicates heart disease group (n = 2355), B indicates breast cancer group (n = 1006), and D indicates depression group (n = 2117).
*For the personal income scenario only, the respondents were given an extra response option for the informed consent requirement, inclination, and behaviour questions to assess whether the amount of personal income received by the researcher was a determining factor. The amount categories were: greater than $100, greater than $1000, greater than $5000, greater than $10 000, greater than $50 000. For the behaviour question in this scenario, “unsure” response was not an option.
†IC indicates informed consent. The majority of respondents felt that financial arrangement information contained in all seven scenarios was extremely or very important. For all scenarios, a clear majority (range 64% to 87%) responded that researchers should be required to disclose the financial arrangements.
Importance
Extremely/very	56	62	51	58	69	56	50	61	46	59	64	59	56	65	57	66	72	65	64	69	62
Somewhat	27	26	31	24	19	26	27	23	26	21	21	21	24	22	24	17	15	19	19	18	21
Not very/at all	17	12	19	17	12	18	23	16	28	20	15	20	20	14	20	17	13	17	17	13	18
IC requirement†
Yes	81	87	78	68	74	64	70	78	64	76	82	75	76	82	74	80	85	78	79	84	76
Yes, depends on amount	–	–	–	7	9	10	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Inclination
More	46	42	41	16	10	11	17	12	13	12	11	9	16	16	15	8	5	6	8	6	7
Same as before	50	52	53	53	46	50	68	65	70	62	67	60	72	75	70	55	59	54	66	69	65
Less	3	6	6	22	31	28	16	23	17	26	23	31	12	10	15	37	36	40	26	24	28
Less, depends on amount	–	–	–	8	13	11	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Behaviour
Still consider	89	82	86	79	67	70	83	74	80	75	72	68	86	84	80	65	61	59	71	68	66
Unsure	9	16	12				10	15	11	12	17	14	8	11	11	18	26	21	17	23	20
Not participate	2	3	3	12	18	18	7	11	9	13	11	17	5	5	9	17	14	20	12	10	14
Not participate, depends on amount	–	–	–	9	14	12	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–