Using Survey Questions to Measure Preferences: Lessons from an Experimental Validation in Kenya

Michal Bauer, Julie Chytilová () and Edward Miguel

No 12450, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Can a short survey instrument reliably measure a range of fundamental economic preferences across diverse settings? We focus on survey questions that systematically predict behavior in incentivized experimental tasks among German university students (Becker et al. 2016) and were implemented among representative samples across the globe (Falk et al. 2018). This paper presents results of an experimental validation conducted among low-income individuals in Nairobi, Kenya. We find that quantitative survey measures - hypothetical versions of experimental tasks - of time preference, attitude to risk and altruism are good predictors of choices in incentivized experiments, suggesting these measures are broadly experimentally valid. At the same time, we find that qualitative questions - self-assessments - do not correlate with the experimental measures of preferences in the Kenyan sample. Thus, caution is needed before treating self-assessments as proxies of preferences in new contexts.

Keywords: experiment; preference measurement; survey; validation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C83 D90 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2019-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-cbe, nep-exp and nep-upt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - revised version published in: European Economic Review, 2020, 127, 103493

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Related works:
Working Paper: Using Survey Questions to Measure Preferences: Lessons from an Experimental Validation in Kenya (2024)
Journal Article: Using survey questions to measure preferences: Lessons from an experimental validation in Kenya (2020)
Working Paper: Using Survey Questions to Measure Preferences: Lessons from an Experimental Validation in Kenya (2020)
Working Paper: Using Survey Questions to Measure Preferences: Lessons from an Experimental Validation in Kenya (2020)
Working Paper: Using Survey Questions to Measure Preferences: Lessons from an Experimental Validation in Kenya (2019)
Working Paper: Using Survey Questions to Measure Preferences: Lessons from an Experimental Validation in Kenya (2019)
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