Environmental Valuation & Cost-Benefit News

Abstract: This paper examines various design strategies that might be employed to construct statistically more efficient stated choice designs in the presence of a reference alternative in a choice set. Using data collected in Sydney in 2004 in the context of trading time and cost attributes associated with alternative tolled and non-tolled routes to drive a car to work, we contrast D-efficient designs (based on a number of ways of pivoting attribute levels around a reference alternative) with the more traditional orthogonal designs and conclude that D-efficiency design strategies produce significantly improved results, in a statistical sense of relative efficiency, than the more traditional orthogonal design. Furthermore, the increased use of computer aided personal survey instruments and internet-based surveys enables researchers to structure the experiments around the very specific experiences of each sampled respondent, adding relevance and comprehendability to the attribute levels being assessed in contrast to other averaging methods to construct reference alternatives.

Keywords: Stated choice; Efficient experimental designs; D-efficiency; Orthogonal design; Reference alternatives

by John M. Rose 1, Michiel C.J. Bliemer 2 and 3, David A. Hensher 1 and Andrew T. Collins 1
1. The Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies (C37), School of Business, Faculty of Economics and Business, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia; Tel.: +61 2 9351 0168; fax: +61 2 9351 4433
2. Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
3. Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies, The University of Sydney, Australia

Transportation Research Part B: Methodological via Elsevier Science Direct www.ScienceDirect.com
Volume 42, Issue 4; May, 2008; Pages 395-406
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.trb.2007.09.002