Ordering anomalies in choice experiments

Brett Day and Jose-Luis Pinto Prades
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Jose-Luis Pinto-Prades

Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2010, vol. 59, issue 3, 271-285

Abstract: This paper investigates whether responses to choice experiments (CEs) are subject to ordering anomalies. While previous research has focussed on the possibility that such anomalies relate to position in the sequence of choice tasks, our research reveals that the particular order of tasks matters. Using a novel experimental design that allows us to test our hypotheses using simple nonparametric statistics, we observe ordering anomalies in CE data similar to those recorded in the dichotomous choice contingent valuation literature. Those ordering effects operate in both price and commodity dimensions and are observed to compound over a series of choice tasks. Our findings cast serious doubt on the current practice of asking each respondent to undertake several choice tasks in a CE while treating each response as an independent observation on that individual's preferences.

Keywords: Choice; experiments; Ordering; effects; Dichotomous; choice; contingent; valuation; Nonparametric; testing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (49)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095-0696(10)00023-9
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:jeeman:v:59:y:2010:i:3:p:271-285

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Environmental Economics and Management is currently edited by M.A. Cole, A. Lange, D.J. Phaneuf, D. Popp, M.J. Roberts, M.D. Smith, C. Timmins, Q. Weninger and A.J. Yates

More articles in Journal of Environmental Economics and Management from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().