This paper investigates the effects of varying attribute ranges to find evidence of anomalous preference formation or, by contrast, of apparent differences in preferences linked to unexplained error variance. A choice experiment study aimed at estimating tourists' preferences for alternative climate change adaptation policies in Mallorca, Spain, has provided the empirical framework varying the ranges of values for all non-cost attributes between two split-sample treatments. Our results suggest that the greater difficulty associated to wider ranges increases the variance with which respondents make their choices which are, in this case, more random. However, once scale differences between treatments are controlled for, the varying attribute range has no effect on utility parameters (preferences) and marginal willingness to pay.
Bestard, AB; Font, AR
Attribute range effects: Preference anomaly or unexplained variance?
Journal Of Choice Modelling