¥Respondents may find some tradeoffs
difficult to evaluate, because they are unfamiliar.
¥The respondentsÕ behavior
underlying the results of a contingent choice study is not well
understood. Respondents may resort to simplified decision rules if the choices are too
complicated, which can bias the results of the statistical analysis.
¥If the number of attributes or levels of
attributes is increased, the sample size and/or number of comparisons each respondent makes must be
increased.
¥When presented with a large number of
tradeoff questions, respondents may lose interest or become frustrated.
¥Contingent choice may extract preferences
in the form of attitudes instead of behavior
intentions.
¥By only providing a limited number of
options, it may force respondents to make choices that they would not voluntarily make.
¥Contingent ranking requires more
sophisticated statistical techniques to estimate willingness to pay.
¥Translating the answers into dollar
values, may lead to greater uncertainty in the actual value that is placed on the good
or service of interest.
¥Although contingent choice has been
widely used in the field of market research, its validity and reliability for valuing
non-market commodities is largely untested.