Reducing Status Quo Bias in Choice Experiments – An Application of a Protest Reduction Entreaty

In stated preference literature, the tendency to choose the alternative representing the status quo situation seems to exceed real life status quo effects. Accordingly, status quo bias can be a problem. In Choice Experiments, status quo bias is found to be strongly correlated with protest attitudes toward the cost attribute. If economic values are to be elicited, this problem is difficult to remedy. In a split sample framework we test a novel ex-ante entreaty aimed specifically at the cost attribute and find that it effectively reduces status quo bias and improves the internal validity of the hypothetical preferences.Choice Experiment, Status Quo Bias, Entreaty, Stated Preference,

Testing the Effect of a Short Cheap Talk Script in Choice Experiments

The application of stated preference methods rests on the assumption that respondents act rationally and that their demand for the non-market good on the hypothetical market is equal to what their real demand would be. Previous studies have shown that this is not the case and this gap is known as hypothetical bias. The present paper attempts to frame the description of the hypothetical market so as to induce more “true market behaviour” in the respondents by including a short Cheap Talk script. The script informs respondents that in similar studies using stated preference methods, people have a tendency to overestimate how much they are willing to pay compared to their actual (true) willingness to pay. Applying a two-split sample approach to a Choice Experiment study focusing on preferences for reducing visual disamenities from offshore wind farms, the Cheap Talk script is found to be a preference mover, but does not affect preferences significantly. Significant effects are found when relating the effect of the Cheap Talk script to the cost levels of the alternatives, in that female respondents are found to choose higher cost alternatives less frequently when presented with the Cheap Talk script, while male respondents are not affected.Cheap Talk, Stated Preferences, Choice Experiment, Hypothetical Bias, Gender

An empirical investigation of German tourist anglers’ preferences for angling in Denmark

The quality of angling sites is important for attracting tourists who enjoy recreational angling. In this paper, we conduct an empirical analysis investigating which attributes of angling sites are particularly important for attracting tourist anglers from abroad. We conduct an online survey of 968 German anglers who have recently been abroad on a holiday trip in which they went angling. We focus on the particularly dedicated anglers who state that recreational angling is important for their choice of holiday destination. A stated choice experiment is employed to investigate their preferences for environmental attributes, catch attributes, and social relation/distance attributes of the angling site. We find that preferences are heterogeneous across different angler segments. Three distinct segments of tourist anglers are identified, characterised as "catch oriented" anglers (57 %), "nature oriented" anglers (24 %) and "trophy oriented anglers (19 %)". All three angler segments have the strong preferences for water quality. However, they differ with respect to catch preferences and preferences for social interaction on the angling site. The catch oriented focus on the hunting aspects of angling. A high catch rate as very important for them, but the size of fish is not important. Moreover this segment prefers angling in solitude without disturbance from other anglers. For the "nature oriented" it is very important that the angling takes place in "natural" conditions, the catches rates are not important but they hope to catch large fish, and it is no problem for this group if there are a few other anglers at the angling site. For the "trophy oriented" anglers it is very important to catch large fish, while the catch rate is of moderate importance and they do not mind if there are many anglers at the site. To attract tourist anglers an angling site manager may use this information to target marketing efforts towards segments of tourist that prefer the type and quality of angling characteristics of the angling site in the managers possession. Additionally, he may seek to adjust and improve the angling sites in a way that suits the preferences of specific segments