Position-Dependent order effects on the prediction of consumer preferences in repeated choice experiments

Abstract

Using stated choice data collected by experimental design with repeated choice tasks, this study developed an approach to quantify the position-dependent order effects on the prediction of preferences and marginal willingness to pay for product attributes. Results showed that repeated choice tasks allow learning to occur. Models with order effect adjustments showed significant improvements in goodness of fit. Attribute-specific polynomial trends showed the best fit among all models, which could possibly be explained by respondents’ familiarity and sensitivity to different product attributes. Repeated-choice experiments have a good potential to capture consumer preferences more accurately than the single-choice design. But order effects need to be taken into account for preferences and market prediction.