Effects of Varying the Location of Perceived Consequentiality Elicitation in a Discrete Choice Experiment Survey

Abstract

Stated preference studies increasingly elicit respondents’ perceptions about survey consequentiality to mitigate hypothetical bias concerns and enhance the validity of value estimates. A typical practice is to ask about these perceptions after preference elicitation. We examine the sensitivity of the perceptions, willingness-to-pay (WTP) estimates, and the relationship between them to the perception elicitation location in a discrete choice experiment survey. Our empirical results suggest that the location matters: the perceptions and WTP values are affected. In our data, the self-reported consequentiality is stronger when elicited before, rather than after, the preferences. We discuss implications of the findings for eliciting perceived consequentiality.