Measuring Constructed Preferences: Towards a Building Code

Abstract

A ''building code'' for preference measurement is needed in a world in which many expressions of preference are constructed when people are asked a valuation question. Construction of preferences Ž . means that preference measurement is best viewed as architecture building a set of values rather than Ž . as archaeology uncovering existing values . We describe potential faults in the process of preference Ž . construction, offer guidelines for measuring constructed preferences a ''building code'' to mitigate Ž these faults, and discuss how the code must be sensitive to the purpose of the valuation design vs.. prediction .

Is WTP an attitudinal measure? Empirical analysis of the psychological explanation for contingent values

“…3 Kahneman, Ritov and Schkade (1999) also note supporting results from an experimental study by Kahneman, Schkade and Sunstein (1998) that employed the headline method to look at punitive damages in a product liability case. Furthermore, Payne, Bettman and Schkade (1999) found high rank correlations between attitudinal measures and stated WTP using a similar design.…”

Designing interfaces for explicit preference elicitation: a user-centered investigation of preference representation and elicitation process

“…However, besides that, we believe that there is much room for improvement and greater support of the way in which humans construct their preferences. This constructive view has been acknowledged by others who also established a number of guidelines for preference elicitation (Payne et al 1999;Pu and Chen 2008;Pu et al 2003Pu et al , 2012. Our work is intended to build on this work by extending the number of guidelines in order to help other designers.…”

“…This view implies that people construct their expressions of preferences at the time the valuation question is asked. Furthermore, the decision process itself and the context play a major role in the construction process (Payne et al 1999).…”

Constructed preference stability: a test–retest

“…Slovic 1995, McFadden 1999, Spash 2002, Bateman et al 2008. Although preferences and expressions of preferences are very likely to be influenced by the information provided during the time of the choice task and the ability of respondents to fit and position this information (selectively) into their mental value system, this does not necessarily mean, as Payne et al (1999) point out, that there is no 'true' value to be measured. Important to know is what exactly is measured and how the information provision shapes preferences.…”

“…Following the recommendations in Payne et al (1999) to avoid problematic preference construction, the survey questionnaire was carefully developed during a pre-test procedure over a period of 4 weeks. Draft versions of the questionnaire focusing on protection of marine habitat and biodiversity in the Dutch North Sea were tested in two different rounds of pre-tests based on 70 face-to-face interviews at two different beach resorts along the Dutch coast.…”