01128647

Component

With the growing reliance on Stated Choice (SC) data, researchers are increasingly interested in understanding how respondents process the information presented to them in such surveys. Specifically, it has been argued that some respondents may simplify the choice tasks by consistently ignoring one or more of the attributes describing the alternatives, and direct questions put to respondents after the completion of SC surveys support this hypothesis. However, in the general context of issues with response quality in SC data, there are certainly grounds for questioning the reliability of stated attribute processing strategies. In this paper, the authors take a different approach by attempting to infer attribute processing strategies through the analysis of respondent-specific coefficient values obtained through conditioning on observed choices. The results suggest that a share of respondents do indeed ignore a subset of explanatory variables. However, there is also some evidence that the inferred attribute processing strategies are not necessarily consistent with the stated attribute processing strategies. This does not necessarily make one right and the other wrong, but raises questions about how both types of data can be used to assist in improving behavioral relevance.

01120148

09-1348

English

15p

2009

Transportation Research Board 88th Annual Meeting

DVD

References; Tables (9)

Public transit; Surveying methods and processes; Transit operating agencies; Travel behavior; Travel surveys

Attribute processing strategy; Conditioning (Psychology); Respondents (Surveys); Stated choice

Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2009 Paper #09-1348

TRIS, TRB

Jan 30 2009 5:36PM