Using an integrated choice and latent variable model to understand the impact of “professional” respondents in a stated preference survey

Erlend Dancke Sandorf, Lars Persson and Thomas Broberg

Resource and Energy Economics, 2020, vol. 61, issue C

Abstract: Internet panels are increasingly used for stated preference research. Because members of such panels receive compensation for each completed survey, one concern is that over time this creates professional respondents who answer surveys solely for the monetary compensation. We identify professional respondents using data on panel tenure, survey response frequency, completion rate and total number of completed surveys. We find evidence of two types of professional respondents: “hyperactives” who answer surveys frequently and “experienced” who have long panel tenure and a large number of completed surveys. Using an integrated choice and latent variable model on stated preference survey data, we find that “hyperactive” respondents are less likely to choose the 'status quo’ and have a more stochastic choice process as seen from the econometrician's point of view, whereas “experienced” respondents have a relatively more deterministic choice process. Our results show that “hyperactive” respondents significantly impact estimated values.

Keywords: Professional respondents; Internet panels; Discrete choice experiments; Integrated choice and latent variable model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C35 Q51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:resene:v:61:y:2020:i:c:s0928765518304548

DOI: 10.1016/j.reseneeco.2020.101178

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