¥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.