Preference Reversals in Discrete Choice Experiments. Inattention or Preference Uncertainty? Some Evidence Using Eyetracking

Kelvin Balcombe, Iain Fraser, Louis Williams and Eugene McSorley

No 285050, 2019 Conference (63rd), February 12-15, 2019, Melbourne, Australia from Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society (AARES)

Abstract: We investigate the relationship between visual attention and attendence with the rate of "preference reversals" in a discrete choice experiment (DCE) that employed eyetracking. We nd that visual attention and attendance, counter to our initial expectations, is positively related to the rate of preference reversal. Our results indicate that moderately low levels of visual attention should not be used as a way of identifying individuals with low levels of engagement, nor should preference reversals necessarily be assumed to indicate low levels of participant engagement. We nd that those reversing preferences do not substantively di¤er from the rest of the population in terms of their underlying preferences. Rather, these respondents spend longer looking at tasks that are similar in terms of utility, so more complex, and as a result these respondents are more uncertain of the choice to make.

Keywords: Research; and; Development/Tech; Change/Emerging; Technologies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30
Date: 2019-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dcm, nep-exp and nep-upt
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/285050/files/3 ... ce%20Experiments.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aare19:285050

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.285050

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in 2019 Conference (63rd), February 12-15, 2019, Melbourne, Australia from Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society (AARES) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().