Application Of Discrete Choice Experiment Research Articles

Branding locally produced chicken in Ghana: An application of discrete choice experiment

Branding is gradually becoming an essential component of successful agribusinesses and a significant motivation to boost modern agriculture. The study aimed to investigate broiler farmers' choices and preferences for branding locally produced chicken in Ghana. Primary data was collected from 562 broiler producers using a multistage sampling technique. The Discrete Choice Experiment model, which comprises random parameter logit and conditional logit models, was used to analyse farmers' preferences for branding attributes and willingness to brand locally produced chicken. Branding attributes of brand source, production claim, form of branded chicken, percentage of farm use, and price were analysed. Averagely, farmers were willing to pay US$0.59 to brand 1.9 kg of processed chicken. Further, household size, brand source, production claim, form of branded chicken, percentage of farm use, and membership of a farmer-based organisation positively influenced farmers' willingness to brand locally produced chicken. In contrast, price negatively influenced farmers’ preference for branding. Farmers should produce brands with these unique attributes to boost sales, improve income and enhance the competitiveness in the poultry industry.

Using Discrete Choice Experiments to Quantify Patient Preferences.

Discrete choice experiments are a robust technique for quantifying preferences. With this method, respondents are presented with a series of hypothetical comparisons described by attributes with varying levels. The aggregated choices from respondents can be used to infer the relative importance of the described attributes and acceptable trade-offs between attributes. The data generated from discrete choice experiments can aid surgeons in aligning patient values with treatment decisions and support the design of research that is responsive to patient preferences. This article summarizes the application of discrete choice experiments to orthopaedics. We share best practices for designing discrete choice experiments and options for reporting study results. Finally, we suggest opportunities for this method within our field.

Agricultural insurance and risk management among poultry farmers in Ghana: An application of discrete choice experiment

Agricultural insurance and risk management among poultry farmers in Ghana: An application of discrete choice experiment

Informing ecosystem values of Loktak Lake in Manipur, India: an application of discrete choice experiments

Context To inform the economic value of Loktak Lake, a Ramsar Site located in north-eastern India, and to suggest sustainable management and wise use of the Lake. Aim To find out the stakeholder preferences and the marginal willingness to pay over improved conservation and management of Loktak Lake. Method Choice Experiment Method, a stated preference method used for environmental valuation is employed in the study. Result The majority of the stakeholders have indicated their strong preference for effective conservation of the Lake with improvement in the fish catch and recreational sites as part of the improved conservation and management of the Lake. Conclusion The stakeholders’ preferences vary significantly in terms of the levels of improvement for different attributes. The high preference for increased fish catch and recreational sites indicated the importance of fish in the social and economic life of the households and scope of alternative employment opportunities respectively. But reduction of phumdi is not preferred as it is linked with the traditional fishing practices. Further, the local stakeholders do not prefer increased alternative employment opportunities, which may be attributed to the trust issues between the local stakeholders and wetland managers. Implication The livelihood options of the dependent communities should be integrated as part of the conservation and management policy of the Loktak Lake. It necessitates more inclusive wetland management or governance structure, and a framework needs to be developed with more local stakeholder participation and to develop site-specific employment generation or income generation schemes to reduce the dependence on the wetland. The participatory approach and continuous involvement of local communities in managing resources will help sustain the environment in the long run.

Willingness to participate in a cocoa pension scheme in Ghana: An application of discrete choice experiment

Willingness to participate in a cocoa pension scheme in Ghana: An application of discrete choice experiment

The application of discrete choice experiments eliciting young peoples’ preferences for healthcare: a systematic literature review

ObjectivesUnderstanding young people’s preferences for healthcare is critical for reducing the negative effect of undesirable choices. This review aims to synthesise the evidence obtained from discrete choice experiments (DCEs) eliciting young people’s preferences for healthcare interventions and service deliveries, specifically, to (1) examine the methodology, including a selection of attributes and levels, experimental design, estimation procedure and validity; (2) evaluate similarities, differences and rigour of designs to the general population DCEs; and, (3) compare the DCEs’ application to the seven health priority areas defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO).MethodsA systematic review searching Medline, EconLIT, PsychINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science was performed up until May 2021. Inclusion criteria: a DCE, eliciting young peoples’ preferences (10–24 years of age), on a healthcare-related topic defined by WHO, peer-reviewed, full-text available in English. A bespoke checklist was used to assess the methodological quality of the included studies.ResultsEighteen DCE studies were included in the review, exploring interventions and service in sexual and reproductive health (n = 9; 50%), smoking cessation (n = 4; 22%), mental health (n = 1), nutrition (n = 1), unintentional injuries (n = 1), vaccination against severe but rare diseases (n = 1); and diabetes (n = 1). Compared to the general population, DCEs eliciting young people’s preferences had a high proportion of monetary measures and a smaller number of choices per respondent with the overwhelming number of surveys using fractional factorial design. The majority of studies were of moderate quality (50–75% of the criteria met).ConclusionsWhile identified DCEs touched on most health priority areas, the scope was limited. The conduct and reporting of DCEs with young people could be improved by including the state-of-the-art design, estimation procedures and analysis.

Bridging the gap between trade operators and consumers to better understand the U.S. wine market: A simultaneous application of discrete choice experiments

This study proposes an approach for bridging the gap between B2B and B2C research by showing how a method commonly used to understand consumer preferences – Discrete Choice Experiments (DCEs) – can be applied to examine choice drivers in a B2B context. Few studies have analysed consumer choices and, simultaneously, whether trade operators' choices towards the same product match. A DCE was created by combining 11 product attributes important to wine choice. The resulting choice sets were distributed among representative samples of 1,762 U.S. wine consumers and 423 U.S. wine trade operators, who were asked to complete the same task. First, the results show that the product choices of consumers and those made by trade operators across the two separate samples can be quantitatively compared, which only a handful of studies have attempted in the past. Second, a Latent Class Analysis (LCA) affirms the presence of three significantly different segments among both consumers and trade operators. These segments' choices are comparable pairwise by the relative importance respondents assign to the choice drivers. The segments are only marginally significantly different in relation to the socio-demographics of consumers or the business characteristics of trade operators.

Application of Discrete Choice Experiment in Agricultural Risk Management: A Review

The study of human behaviour has been cementing its place within economics for decades. The complexity of decisions in family farming, challenging agricultural markets, and climate change have drawn attention to human behaviour, namely risk perceptions and the decision-making process, with a focus on agricultural economics. This paper reviews current knowledge on risk management in agriculture from the behavioral perspective, and from the perspective experimental economics in particular, emphasizing a discrete choice experiment approach. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) elicits stated preferences through hypothetical choices and have been extensively applied in research on risk preferences and farmers’ willingness to apply different risk management strategies. The objective of this paper was to determine the frequency at which papers are published and their use in discrete choice experiments in general and in agriculture and emphasizes risk management in agriculture using bibliometric analysis. The PRISMA framework was used for a systematic literature review of the agricultural risk management publications that apply a DCE. The main steps to achieve the aforementioned goals are to define how many publications are primary research versus theoretical publications in the research area of agricultural risk management, which part of risk management in agriculture it covers, and how many attributes were used in each study. The authors reviewed 20 papers based on the following keyword criteria: discrete choice experiment, agriculture, risk management, and the period 2001–2021, using the Web of Science database. The results show an increase in DCE publications over the past 20 years. A comprehensive literature review of risk management in agriculture concluded that publications are primarily research focused, mainly consider on-farm strategies and smaller-scale risk-transfer strategies, and are predominantly conducted among farmers. The average number of attributes per publication is four to five. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed in the paper.

Understanding Consumers' Preferences for Protected Geographical Indications: A Choice Experiment with Hungarian Sausage Consumers.

Geographical Indications (GIs) can increase producer margins and contribute to local economic development, but the extent to which they do so depends on the nature of consumer demand. A Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) considers the value that consumers place on a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) in comparison with a leading manufacturer’s brand, as well as the importance of taste variations. Based on an application of DCE to sausages in Hungary, results indicate that a PGI can generate value to consumers exceeding that conveyed by the leading manufacturer’s brand. Consumers’ taste preferences, however, may not be consistent with the specification of GI products. Latent Class (LC) and Random parameter Latent Class (RLC) analyses identify two consumer segments, with the majority of consumers (71%-LC, 65%-RLC) classified as traditionalists, who most value the GI label, while a minority (29%-LC, 35%-RLC) is brand conscious, for whom the GI status is less salient. Both theoretical and business implications for GI marketing and club branding are drawn.

Parent Preferences for Physical Activity in Before and After School Programs in Rural and Suburban Communities: A Discrete Choice Experiment.

The purpose of this study was to examine and compare parent preferences of before and after school physical activity program components in rural and suburban elementary schools. A discrete choice experiment was conducted to measure parent preferences for components of before/after school programs. A total of 183 parents (age = 37.2 [8.2]y, 155 females) sampled from 15 elementary schools (K-6 grades) in the Western United States took part in the study, half of which were from a rural community (n = 93, 50.8%). Results from the discrete choice experiment were analyzed using hierarchic Bayesian methodology, which estimated utility scores and was used to calculate important scores for program components. The specific goal of the before/after school program was the strongest determinant of parents' stated choice overall, followed by leaders, time of day, length, and main focus. Learning sports as the physical activity goal was the top-rated attribute. Subgroup analyses revealed discrepancies between suburban and rural parents and parents of boys and girls. This study extends the application of discrete choice experiments to school-based programming, providing a unique way to design empirically based, stakeholder informed school programs, specifically within before and after school settings.

Application of Discrete Choice Experiment in Health Care: A Bibliometric Analysis.

Background: Discrete choice experiment (DCE) as a tool that can measure medical stakeholders' preferences especially patients recently has been increasingly applied in health care.Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the hotspots and trends of the application of DCE in health care and to provide reference and direction for further development of DCE in the future.Method: A bibliometric method was implemented using the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection for the period from the database established to December 8, 2020. The data files are imported into CiteSpace and Excel to analyze and visualize the annual volume of productive, authors, countries, cited journals, cited articles, and keywords.Results: A total of 1,811 articles were retrieved, then we read the abstract of each paper one by one, and 1,562 articles were included after screening, with an exponential increase in publication volume. John F. P. Bridges contributed to 40 publications and ranked first, followed by F. Reed Johnson (n = 37), Julie Ratcliffe (n = 36). The majority of the papers were conducted in the United States (n = 513) and the United Kingdom (n = 433). The top three cited journals were “Health Economics” (n = 981), “Value in Health” (n = 893), and “Pharmaceutical Economics” (n = 774), and the top three articles were “Constructing experimental designs for discrete-choice experiments: report of the ISPOR Conjoint Analysis Experimental Design Good Research Practices Task Force,” “Conjoint analysis applications in health-a checklist: a report of the ISPOR Good Research Practices for Conjoint Analysis Task Force,” and “Discrete choice experiments in health economics: a review of the literature.” The research hotspots and trends included “health technology assessment,” “survival,” “preference based measure,” and “health state valuation.”Conclusion: The size of the literature about DCE studies in health care showed a noticeable increase in the past decade. The application of DCE in health care remains in an early growth phase, and “health technology assessment,” “survival,” “preference based measure,” and “health state valuation” reflected the latest research hotpots and future trends.

Methods for Conducting Stated Preference Research with Children and Adolescents in Health: A Scoping Review of the Application of Discrete Choice Experiments.

Discrete choice experiments (DCEs) are a common method used to describe and quantitatively assess preferences in health applications. Increasingly, DCEs have been used to elicit preferences from children and adolescents and generate evidence to inform policies affecting this population. The aim of this review was to summarize and describe the application of DCEs conducted with children and adolescents and describe author-reported age-specific considerations in design, implementation, and analysis. A scoping review was conducted using a 'pearl-growing' technique whereby the reference lists of existing systematic reviews of DCEs were used to identify potential studies conducted with children or adolescents as respondents published between 1990 and 2017. This list was supplemented with an updated electronic search using the same strategy as the initial reviews to identify studies from 2017 to 2020. Of 480 studies identified, 19 were included; topics included vaccines (32%), drugs/medical devices (26%), treatment or health promotion interventions/programs (21%), warning labels on cigarettes/nicotine products (10%), and preferences for physical activity and healthy food choices (10%). The youngest reported age for independent DCE completion was 8 years. Approaches to assessing validity and reliability of choices were consistent with best practices for the conduct of DCEs. Reported age-specific considerations included use of visual aids, age-appropriate language, reducing task complexity and cognitive burden, and exploration of interpretation of willingness-to-pay. The number of DCEs conducted with children and adolescents has increased in recent years. Detailed explanation of why reported age-specific considerations were necessary, how they could be used to interpret results, or to understand the appropriateness of this methodology for different age groups was limited. Despite a recognition of the need for special consideration when conducting DCEs in this population, the unique issues in the context of age-specific considerations are largely unexplored, and further research is required. Moving forward, stated preference research conducted with children and adolescents should report in more detail methods of recruitment, results of validity assessments, and provide specific reflection on the extent to which modeled results are consistent with expectations and underlying theory.

Application of discrete choice experiments to estimate value of life: a national study protocol in Iran

BackgroundGlobal concerns regarding the significant burden of non-communicable diseases and injuries (NCDIs) exist from both public health and economic perspectives. Our research focuses on the reduction of fatal risks due to NCDIs and the citizens’ preferences about health programs and intervention to reduce premature death due to NCDIs. Governments and health authorities need reliable evidence and information to prioritize the interests of their citizens. One crucial piece of evidence to justify the resources spent on NCDIs is the value derived from the interventions on prevention and NCDIs control. This concept is usually called “Value of Statistical Life” (VSL), meaning the monetary value that individuals place on changes in the risk levels of life- threatening events. To the best of our knowledge, for the first time, our study will estimate the statistical value of life for selected interventions for the prevention and control of NCDIs at both national and sub-national levels in the context of Iran. This paper reports the development of a national protocol through Discrete Choice Experiments (DCEs) method.Methods and designsOur study comprises several stages: (a) a literature review to identify the attributes and levels of the prevention programs and Willingness to Pay (WTP) for reducing the NCDI’s fatal risks; (b) experimental design to assessing, prioritizing, and finalizing the identified attributes and levels; (c) instrumental design to conduct face-to-face structured survey interviews of 3180 respondents aged 18–69 across the entire country; (d) statistical analysis to estimate the results through the Mixed Multinomial logit (MMNL) model.DiscussionWe anticipate that our findings will help build a stronger empirical basis for monetizing the value of small changes in selected fatality risks. It paves the way for other national or vast VSL estimates for NCDIs, as well as other major causes of morbidity and mortality in the context of Iran, and perhaps other low and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Landscapes and Services in Peri-Urban Areas and Choice of Housing Location: An Application of Discrete Choice Experiments

The recent decades have witnessed a significant increase in the population in peri-urban areas which led to a progressive transformation of peri-urban landscapes, and the reduced ability of agriculture to provide ecosystem services. In order to understand the complex relationships established in peri-urban areas between reference urban centre, urban services (US) and ecosystem services (ES), with particular attention to the landscape, a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) was carried out in the transitional peri-urban areas of six municipalities located near the city of Perugia (Italy). The two main goals of this study are analysing the effect of the presence of US and ES on the demand for housing, and exploring the implications in terms of peri-urban land use policy. The results highlight that the availability of some ES can have a significant impact on choice of housing location.

Application of discrete choice experiment to analyze the demand for village chicken paid vaccination service against Newcastle disease in DR Congo

Newcastle disease (ND) is a highly contagious viral disease that can affect a large number of avian species and cause severe economic loss in many countries. This disease is a major constraint for rural chicken production in most developing countries. In this country, ND is known since the 1940s. It exists in enzootic form in almost all provinces of the country. No systematic long-term control measures have been taken against this devastating disease in village poultry. A discrete choice experiment was carried out to analyze the demand for paid vaccination services, by first identifying the preferences of 320 village chicken keepers from eight sites, four of which had benefitted from such a paid chicken vaccination program against ND and four of which did not. The preference was for a vaccination service carried out following imposed calendar. The public veterinarian was the most preferred professional to ensure the paid vaccination of village chickens. The results led to the design of a profile of paid vaccination service tailored to chicken keepers’ expectations. The public veterinarian would supervise vaccination activities, which would be implemented by trained community-based health workers, through collective campaigns at fixed periods in the year. The acceptable price (equivalent to 0.10 US dollar per dose) would allow the service to be set in a sustainable way and might be increased if trust in the delivered service may be built further.

Relative Versus Absolute Commodity Measurements in Benefit Transfer: Consequences for Validity and Reliability

Non‐market goods can be measured on cardinal or relative scales. Consider a marsh of 200 acres, of which 20 acres would be affected by a policy. The same affected area can be measured in cardinal terms (20 acres) or as a relative proportion (10% of the marsh). When relative units such as percentages are a scalar transformation of cardinal units, the units of measurement used for modeling are often inconsequential for single‐site econometric and welfare analysis. However, this seemingly inconsequential transformation can have significant implications for benefit transfer across sites—a simple observation that remains unacknowledged by the literature. This article provides a theoretical and empirical evaluation of variable measurement conventions within benefit transfer, deriving conditions under which different types of measurement scales are expected to enhance validity and reliability. Theoretical results are illustrated using an application of discrete choice experiments to coastal flood adaptation in two Connecticut (United States) communities. Empirical findings validate expectations from the theoretical model, suggesting that transfers over goods measured in relative units may often outperform transfers over goods measured in cardinal units. These findings imply that the outcome of benefit transfer convergent validity tests may hinge on whether goods are measured in cardinal or relative units.

Values, Bias, and Stressors Affect Intentions to Adapt to Coastal Flood Risk: A Case Study from New York City

AbstractSea level rise amplifies flooding from tides and storms for coastal communities around the globe. Although the characterization of these physical hazards has improved, it is people’s behavior that will ultimately determine the impact on communities. This study adds to our understanding of how people may respond to various adaptation options and policies, using a household survey in New York City, New York, neighborhoods affected by Hurricane Sandy. We investigate previously overlooked factors that may influence intended household adaptive behavior, such as single-action bias, a cognitive trade-off that households make between adaptation options, whereby taking a small (and often less effective measure) may strongly discourage uptake of a more protective measure. Through a novel application of discrete choice experiments in the coastal adaptation context, we simulate plausible future conditions to assess potential adaptation under climatic and nonclimatic stressors. Our findings suggest that single-action bias plays a substantial role in intended coastal adaptation, whereby the odds of homeowners who have already implemented a modest-cost measure to insure and relocate in the future are 66% and 80% lower, respectively. The odds of homeowners to relocate are also ~1.9, ~2.2, and ~3.1 times as great if their peers relocate, nuisance flooding becomes a frequent occurrence, and property values fall substantially, respectively. We find that renters’ motivation to relocate is largely driven more by external issues such as crime, gentrification, and economic security than by flood hazard.

The urban and regional impacts of plant closures: new methods and perspectives

ABSTRACTWork on large-scale plant closures has provided a rich vein of scholarship and academic debate. This paper articulates a new set of methods and concepts for understanding how large-scale redundancies associated with the closure of manufacturing plants affects society and the economy at the local, regional and national scales. It posits the need for a more comprehensive exercise in data collection and experimentation with previously unused methods, including the application of discrete-choice experiments in order to understand better the choice and decision-making frameworks adopted by affected workers. The paper argues there is a need to integrate community-wide policy responses into the core of the analyses.

Quantifying user preferences for sanitation construction and use: Application of discrete choice experiments in Amhara, Ethiopia.

To quantify stated preferences for latrine use and construction in Amhara, Ethiopia, using Discrete Choice Experiments (DCEs). We conducted image-based DCEs to assess preferences for latrine use (stratified by gender) and construction (among men only) in Amhara, Ethiopia. Preference was quantified using a conditional logistic model to estimate utilities and corresponding odds ratios associated with a set of latrine attributes. For latrine use, tin roof, handwashing stations and clean latrines had the highest relative utility coefficients. Tin roof was preferred to no roof for use (Women: OR: 3.68, 95% CI: 3.18-4.25; Men: OR: 3.75, 95% CI: 3.21-4.39) and new latrine construction (5.92, 5.04-6.95). Concrete slabs, a critical aspect of improved sanitation, was not preferred to dirt floors for use (Women: 0.87, 0.75-1.00; Men: 1.03, 0.88-1.20), but was preferred for new construction (1.52, 1.30-1.78). We did not observe any trends in preference for direct (monetary) or indirect cost (labour days), so we were not able to elicit trade-offs between latrine attributes and these costs for the construction of new latrines. Our findings suggest similar latrine use preferences between men and women. We found that tin roofs are the most strongly preferred latrine characteristic, but concrete slabs, commonly promoted in sanitation programmes, were not preferred for use. We demonstrate the utility of DCEs to elicit stated preferences for latrine use and construction among community members who have myriad motivations for using and making improvements to their sanitation facilities, including the ease of cleaning and hygiene, durability, or privacy and comfort.

Personalisation and the disability sector: What can health economics contribute to inform decision-making?

Consistent with policy reforms originating in the US, and subsequently adopted in the UK and Europe, the Australian disability sector is currently experiencing an era of unprecedented and transformative policy change towards personalisation and self-directed care. The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) introduces the use of personalised budgets, the main objective of which is to support the social and economic participation of people with disabilities. Against this background, this article discusses the potential for health economic techniques to be usefully applied in the disability sector from two main perspectives. Firstly, to apply an economic evaluation framework to generate an evidence base of the cost effectiveness of new and existing services and supports. Secondly, through the development and application of discrete choice experiments, a choice based method for building the knowledge and capacity of consumers to make informed preferences between alternative services and supports.