The questionnaire with the 16 case-scenarios was distributed to all participants. The principal investigator made a brief introduction about the study to each individual participated in the study, explained the six attributes and their assigned levels and also provided instructions about the completion of the ranking exercise. The ranking exercise started by explaining participants the six (6) attributes and their assigned levels. Each participant was handed 16 small cards describing each of the 16 scenarios in a table format. Each card basically represented one hypothetical patient and described its main characteristics (Table 2). Individuals were asked to rank order the 16 cards according to priority of treatment. For ease of use, participants were initially asked to sort the 16 cards in three (3) piles: (a) those with the highest priority, (b) those with the lowest priority and (c) those for which they were unsure. Following this, participants had to rank the 16 cards by assigning numbers: starting with number 1 for the card with the highest priority, ending with number 16 for the card with the lowest priority. They were also asked to write down the number on each card after double-checking their decisions. Demographic characteristics (gender, age and educational level) were also obtained.Table 2Card of a hypothetical patientPatient 1 rank orderAge37 years oldHealthy lifestyleNoType of diseaseAcute diseaseSeverity of diseaseMildHealth improvement after treatmentMediocre improvementCost of treatmentLow