Adaptive Hybrid Methods for Choice-Based Conjoint Analysis: A Comparative Study

In treating early-onset scoliosis (EOS), pediatric orthopaedic surgeons and families must often choose between growth-friendly interventions such as magnetically controlled growing rods (MCGR) and early definitive posterior spinal fusion (PSF). While each strategy has associated pros and cons, little is understood about the specific preferences of patients' families. Addressing potential nuances in these preferences is crucial for meaningful shared decision-making (SDM). To better understand the factors influencing family decisions, we conducted a choice-based conjoint (CBC) analysis to explore parents' preferences for PSF and MCGR as treatment options. A survey was developed using Sawtooth Software (Lighthouse Studio version 9.2.0) to gather demographic information and preferences on surgical scenarios via CBC analysis. Anonymous participants, recruited via the Prolific crowdsourcing platform, qualified if they were US residents over 18 years of age with children aged 8 to 9. Data analysis involved the Hierarchical Bayes (HB) method to determine the desirability of 5 surgical attributes: curve correction, increase in spinal height, total number of surgeries, duration of treatment, and chance of complications. The study included 432 participants who prioritized the likelihood of complications (relative importance value of 37), followed by total number of surgeries (22), curve correction (21), spine height (12), and treatment duration (8). Female participants and those with daughters assigned significantly higher importance to the treatment's total number of surgeries ( P <0.05). Simulator analysis showed that 86.6% of participants would hypothetically prefer PSF, while only 13.4% would opt for growing rods based on the modeled participant choices. This CBC analysis suggests that parents of children with EOS requiring surgical intervention would prioritize complication minimization, reduction in total surgical procedures, and effective curve correction, demonstrating a marked preference for PSF. Notably, the sex of both the child and the parent influenced attribute preferences. These findings exemplify the utility of CBC analysis in orthopaedic care, allowing for a deeper understanding of family preferences and enhancing SDM by providing the ability to align surgical recommendations with specific family priorities. Level III.

This article chapter provides an up‐to‐date review of methods that have come to be calledconjoint analysis. These methods enable marketing researchers to determine trade‐offs among attributes of a new product based on responses of stated preferences and stated choices. These trade‐offs can assist in product design, pricing, market segmentation, and similar marketing decisions. There are essentially four types of conjoint analysis; these are traditional conjoint analysis that uses stated preferences, choice‐based conjoint analysis (CBCA) that uses stated choices, self‐explicated conjoint analysis that uses direct elicitation of attribute importances and ratings on attribute levels, and adaptive conjoint analysis (ACA) which involves a staged and adaptive data collection. Over several thousand conjoint studies were conducted since the introduction of this method in the early 1970s. The chapterarticle also covers significant advances in estimation methods and design of stimuli (profiles and choice sets) over these years. Essentially, this methodology is alive and thriving well.

Information utility has become a major issue in consumer research since providing useful and relevant information is a key factor for the success of destination marketing organisations (DMO). This study compared six different approaches for measuring perceived utility (importance) of information elements on city tourism (CTO) organization websites: group discussion, rating, partial ranking, choice-based conjoint analysis (CBC), adaptive conjoint analysis (ACA) and maximum difference method (MaxDiff). Results showed that simple, compositional methods achieved a more consistent weight pattern compared to the conjoint approaches. The degree of complexity and level of abstraction seem to be responsible for the biases occurring in these techniques. On the other hand, the quality and content of CTO web sites vary to a large extent. Despite different weighting schemes for eight different content areas, by and large, the best and worst web sites remain the same.

The impact of complex environmental factors on consumer choices and preferences can be analyzed through the prism of consumer behavior analysis, whereas variations of marketing attributes and their impact on choice can be measured using conjoint analysis. Considering the case of the constantly growing online food selections, we discuss choice-based conjoint analysis and explore the opportunities for behavior analysts to examine the interrelationships of multiple variables and socially important choice settings, and to promote desired behaviors. We show a few examples of using trade-off analyses in online food retail to understand consumer behavior with respect to healthy food items. As demonstrated in these examples based on our own pilot research, conjoint analysis can be used for complex behavior-that which is not amenable directly to an experimental analysis-or as an efficient initial step before moving into further experiments or analyses using biometrics (e.g., eye-tracking) or web analytics conducted in different settings such as e-commerce, e-mail, social media, or on mobile platforms. This paper summarizes the personalized, data driven economic analysis that is possible with a choice-based conjoint analysis.

PurposeDidactic lectures are a commonly used educational tool during urology residency training. Recently, there has been a rapid introduction of online, collaborative didactics as a new model for resident teaching. The aim of this study is to determine which attributes of didactics education are most preferred by contemporary urology trainees.MethodsUrology trainees were invited to complete an online choice-based exercise assessing combinations of four attributes associated with didactics education: mode of communication, learning style, presenter credentials, and curriculum design. The survey was distributed via social media platforms and the Urology Collaborative Online Video Didactics (COViD) website. A choice-based conjoint analysis was used to identify how the trainees valued different combinations of didactic education.ResultsSeventy-three trainees completed the conjoint analysis exercise. Mode of communication was rated as significantly more important than curriculum design (relative importance 28.6% vs. 19.9%). Overall, the majority preferred online/virtual presentations to in-person presentations. Respondents preferred national experts to faculty members from their local institutions, and preferred cased based lectures to didactics style lectures. A nationally standardized curriculum was also preferred over curriculum designed by local institutions. Finally, when segmented by level of training, there was increased preference for overall favored options as PGY year increased.ConclusionThis conjoint analysis shows clear preference by trainees for online, recorded didactics, nationally standardized with national experts, and preferably in a case-based format. Academic societies in urology and program directors should consider utilizing the shared experience of previously created collaborative online lectures in developing future didactic curriculum that can meet the needs of current trainees.

You have accessJournal of UrologyGeneral & Epidemiological Trends & Socioeconomics: Evidence-based Medicine & Outcomes II1 Apr 2015MP9-12 PATIENT-CENTERED TREATMENT DECISIONS: USING CONJOINT ANALYSIS AS AN AID FOR SHARED DECISION-MAKING FOR URETHRAL STRICTURE TREATMENT Lindsay Hampson, Thomas Gaither, Leslie Wilson, Jie Ting, Isabel Allen, and Benjamin Breyer Lindsay HampsonLindsay Hampson More articles by this author , Thomas GaitherThomas Gaither More articles by this author , Leslie WilsonLeslie Wilson More articles by this author , Jie TingJie Ting More articles by this author , Isabel AllenIsabel Allen More articles by this author , and Benjamin BreyerBenjamin Breyer More articles by this author View All Author Informationhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.juro.2015.02.372AboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Understanding patient preferences for treatment decisions helps to assist in shared decision-making and places emphasis on patient-centered outcomes. Conjoint analysis (CA) has recently been proposed as a method to understand patient preferences and what risks patients are willing to take in terms of side effects and treatment options for what gains. Our objective was to evaluate whether use of a choice-based CA exercise helped to improve patients' decision-making ability about treatment preferences for management of urethral stricture disease. METHODS Male patients with urethral stricture disease completed a 3-part survey consisting of 1) assessment of decisional conflict regarding surgical management of urethral stricture disease using the validated SURE scale, 2) a choice-based CA where participants were presented with a series of 16 random and 2 fixed treatment scenarios from which they had to choose, and 3) a re-assessment of their decisional conflict and evaluation of the usefulness of the CA. RESULTS 177 patients completed the exercise. Prior to completing the CA, 50% reported having decisional conflict about what treatment option to pursue, whereas after the conjoint analysis only 45% had decisional conflict (p < 0.05). 71% of participants felt that the CA was helpful in deciding what was important in making a treatment decision, and 81% felt that it helped them to express their priorities and preferences for side effects and outcomes of surgical management. Participants who had previously undergone urethroplasty and were younger were less likely to have decisional conflict both before and after the conjoint survey (p < 0.01 for all). Men who reported that the CA helped them to express their priorities and preferences were significantly more likely to make a change from having decisional conflict to not having conflict after completion of the CA (p = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS Choice-based CA improves patients' ability to make treatment decisions, to understand and express their treatment preferences, and decreases decisional conflict. CA can be used as a tool to aid in shared decision-making with a focus on patient-centered outcomes. © 2015 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 193Issue 4SApril 2015Page: e106-e107 Advertisement Copyright & Permissions© 2015 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.MetricsAuthor Information Lindsay Hampson More articles by this author Thomas Gaither More articles by this author Leslie Wilson More articles by this author Jie Ting More articles by this author Isabel Allen More articles by this author Benjamin Breyer More articles by this author Expand All Advertisement Advertisement PDF downloadLoading ...

The purpose of this paper is to provide a method to identify customer (sustainability) demands, map these via price equivalents and use the equivalents for green logistics target costing. We use the methodology of Expert Survey and Choice Based Conjoint Analysis to study purchase decisions and determine customers’ price readiness for sustainable logistics services. The results are inter alia that the three dimensions of the triple bottom line are already seen as essential decision criteria for the selection of logistics services. By means of Target Costing, supported by a Choice Based Conjoint Analysis, companies are in a position to calculate the financial framework available for investments in more sustainable products. This is illustrated by the use of a fictitious example. The main limitation of our research is that the survey was executed with German participants only. Our paper is the first to equally cover the three sustainability dimensions (economical, ecological and social) for target costing in the area of logistics, especially in the field of freight transport. In addition, it is the first paper to use a conjoint analysis for the determination of the price readiness for sustainable logistics services of costumers and to apply this information to target costing.

Abbreviated MRI (AMRI), proposed as an alternative imaging modality for hepatocellular carcinoma screening, provides higher sensitivity than ultrasound. It is, however, unknown how patients weigh the higher sensitivity of AMRI against its higher cost and potentially less desirable testing experience. To assess patient preferences for hepatocellular carcinoma screening test attributes including sensitivity, false-positive rate, test-related anxiety, cost, and need for intravenous catheterization and contrast use, measured by choice-based conjoint analysis. This was an ancillary study to two prospective dual-center studies designed to compare the hepatocellular carcinoma detection rates by ultrasound versus AMRI. Of the 135 eligible participants, 106 (median age 63, range 25-85; 56% male) completed the choice-based conjoint analysis survey and were included in this substudy. Participants' preference for individual screening test attributes was assessed using a 12-item, web-based choice-based conjoint analysis survey administered in person at the screening visit. Conjoint analyses software and hierarchical Bayes random-effects logit model were used to calculate the relative importance of each attribute. The most important attribute driving patient preferences was higher test sensitivity (importance score 39.8%), followed by lower cost (importance score 22.8%) and lower false-positive rate (importance score 19.4%). The overall estimated participants' preference for ultrasound and AMRI were similar when assuming the same specificity for both modalities. Higher screening test sensitivity and lower cost were the leading patient preference drivers. This study has important implications for understanding patient preferences for specific screening test characteristics as potential determinants of adherence.

Purpose - With the rapid economic development, great changes have happened in the Chinese beer market. The scale of imported beer is increasing. However, the sales of native Chinese beer decrease in recent years. It is because more Chinese customers prefer beer with unique attributes than those with lower prices. In order to take an advantage in this market, practitioners should develop new products to satisfy Chinese customers. Scholars have also focused on beer characteristics to estimate consumers' behavior for improving the development of beer industry. However, most studies are theoretically centered on marketing strategy management or general understanding of the market. It is not enough for us to explain customers' consumption patterns. Some empirical research did attempt to find out beer attributes that may influence their choice behavior. However, they failed to verify what can increase customers' utility through a new product. More importantly, few evidences can be found in the literature. Therefore this study explores the major characteristics of imported beer which may associate with customers' preferences. Research design, data, and methodology - With the results of literature review and focus group interview, we found out four main imported beer attributes and the levels of each factor. A pre-test is constructed to check the problems in the questionnaire protocol. With the results of pre-test, the revised questionnaire is processed among customers who have purchased and had imported beer in China regions such as Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Guangdong and so on. The choice-based conjoint analysis is applied to analyze the useful data of 205. Results - Results indicate that choice-based conjoint analysis is the effective method to estimate customers' choice behavior. Results also indicate that country of origin, price, taste, and package affect customers' preference and the importances of imported beer attributes are significantly different. Conclusions - Country of origin, price, taste, and package are important for customers to make an imported beer choice decision. Marketers should consider these determinants and their importance to develop new products. Moreover, choice-based conjoint analysis should be the useful method for practitioners to develop a new product of imported beer for sustainable business in the competitive industry.

Este artigo oferece uma reviso, de 1971 at a atualidade, dos mtodos de conjoint analysis que so abordagens de coleta de dados baseadas em preferncias ou escolhas declaradas pelos consumidores. Milhares de estudos foram realizados com o uso de conjoint analysis, desde a introduo do mtodo no incio da dcada de 70. Este conjunto de mtodos permite que os pesquisadores de mercado estudem trade-off entre os atributos de novos produtos, sendo til para vrias decises de marketing com design de produto, apreamento e segmentao de mercado. O conjunto atual de opes de conjoint analysis composto pela abordagem tradicional de preferncia declarada, pelas tcnicas de escolhas discretas (CBCA ou choice based conjoint analysis) que se baseiam em escolhas declaradas, pela abordagem autoexplicativa que usa elicitao direta de importncia de atributos e avaliao dos nveis dos atributos e pela abordagem adaptativa (ACA ou adaptive conjoint analysis) que implica em coleta de dados por etapas e adaptativa. Este artigo resume estes mtodos e seus desenvolvimentos recentes e apresenta uma aplicao no Mercado brasileiro. Dada a versatilidade do mtodo, existe um enorme potencial para a pesquisa de marketing no Brasil. Essencialmente, esta metodologia est viva e crescendo.

Objective: To assess the feasibility of using adaptive choice-based conjoint (ACBC) analysis to elicit patients’ preferences for pharmacological treatment of osteoarthritis (OA), patients’ satisfaction with completing the ACBC questionnaire, and factors associated with questionnaire completion time. Methods: Adult patients aged 18 years and older with a medical diagnosis of OA, experiencing joint pain in the past 12 months, and living in the Northeast of England participated in the study. The participants completed a web-based ACBC questionnaire about their preferences regarding pharmaceutical treatment for OA using a touchscreen laptop independently, and accordingly, the questionnaire completion time was measured. Moreover, the participants completed a pen-and-paper feedback form about their experience in completing the ACBC questionnaire. Results: Twenty participants aged 40 years and older, 65% females, 75% had knee OA, and suffering from OA for more than 5 years participated in the study. About 60% of participants reported completing a computerized questionnaire in the past. About 85% of participants believed that the ACBC task helped them in making decisions regarding their OA medications, and 95% agreed or strongly agreed that they would be happy to complete a similar ACBC questionnaire in the future. The average questionnaire completion time was 16 min (range 10–24 min). The main factors associated with longer questionnaire completion time were older age, never using a computer in the past, and no previous experience in completing a questionnaire. Conclusions: The ACBC analysis is a feasible and efficient method to elicit patients’ preferences for pharmacological treatment of OA, which could be used in clinical settings to facilitate shared decision-making and patient-centered care. The ACBC questionnaire completion consumes a significantly longer time for elderly participants, who never used a computer, and never completed any questionnaire previously. Therefore, the contribution of patients and public involvement (PPI) group in the development of the ACBC questionnaire could facilitate participants’ understanding and satisfaction with the task. Future research including patients with different chronic conditions may provide more useful information about the efficiency of ACBC analysis in eliciting patients’ preferences for osteoarthritis treatment.

IntroductionTo explore how adaptive choice-based conjoint (ACBC) analysis could contribute to shared decision-making in the treatment of individual patients with osteoarthritis (OA).MethodsIn-depth case study of three individuals randomly selected from patients with OA participating in an ACBC analysis exercise. Eleven members of a research users’ group participated in developing an ACBC task on medication preferences for OA. Individual medication priorities are illustrated by the detailed analysis of ACBC output from three randomly selected patients from the main sample.ResultsThe case study analysis illustrates individual preferences. Participant 1’s priority was avoidance of the four high-risk side effects of medication, which accounted for 90% of the importance of all attributes, while the remaining attributes (expected benefit; way of taking medication; frequency; availability) accounted only for 10% of the total influence. Participant 3 was similar to participant 1 but would accept a high risk of one of the side effects if the medication were available by prescription. In contrast, participant 2’s priority was the avoidance of Internet purchase of medication; this attribute (availability) accounted for 52% of the importance of all attributes.ConclusionsIndividual patients have preferences that likely lead to different medication choices. ACBC has the potential as a tool for physicians to identify individual patient preferences as a practical basis for concordant prescribing for OA in clinical practice. Future research needs to establish whether accurate knowledge of individual patient preferences for treatment attributes and levels translates into concordant behavior in clinical practice.

Airline services nowadays become one of the highly coveted options by many consumers for long-distance transportation. The increasing numbers of users makes airlines tightly compete each other to attract consumers’ interest. Thus, analysis to consumer preference has always been the starting point in market research as reference in creating new innovation. This research uses the choice-based conjoint analysis with the full profile as method of presentation. Conjoint analysis is a multivariate analysis method that can be used as a measurement for the level of preference. In the instrument, consumers were asked to choose one among three attribute combination of each choice set within 9 choice sets. Utility values were obtained by conditional logic model. The results show that for each attribute the order of preference is Price-Airport tax-Class-Facility. Judging from the value of its usefulness, the most preferred attribute by consumer is Airport tax and that Include is preferably from Exclude. For Price attribute, lower than 500 thousand rupiahs is the most preferred categories among others. In Class attribute, Business is more preferable than other categories. And for Facility attribute, entertainment is the most preferred one of other categories. Keywords : preferences, airlines, choice-based conjoint

Indoor radon constitutes a public health issue in various regions across the United States as the second leading cause of lung cancer following tobacco smoke. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency advises radon mitigation interventions for residential buildings with indoor radon concentrations exceeding the threshold level of 4 pCi/L. Despite considerable research assessing the technical effectiveness of radon mitigation systems, there remains a gap in understanding their broader influence on occupant behavior and preferences in residential design. This study aims to investigate the impact of residing in radon-mitigated homes within the Commonwealth of Kentucky—an area known for elevated radon concentrations—on occupants’ preferences regarding healthy home design attributes. The objectives of this research are twofold: firstly to determine if living in radon-mitigated homes enhances occupant awareness and consequently influences their preferences toward health-related home attributes and secondly to quantitatively evaluate and compare the relative significance homeowners assign to health-related attributes such as indoor air quality, thermal comfort, and water quality relative to conventional attributes including home size, architectural style, and neighborhood quality. The overarching purpose is to explore the potential role radon mitigation initiatives may play in motivating occupants towards healthier home construction and renovation practices. Using choice-based conjoint (CBC) analysis, this paper compares preferences reported by homeowners from radon-mitigated homes against those from non-mitigated homes. While the findings suggest a relationship between radon mitigation and increased preference for indoor air quality, the cross-sectional design limits causal interpretation, and the possibility of reverse causation—where health-conscious individuals are more likely to seek mitigation—must be considered. The results provide novel insights into how radon mitigation efforts might effectively influence occupant priorities towards integrating healthier design elements in residential environments.

The rapid growth of quick commerce (q-commerce) is changing urban grocery retailing by guaranteeing delivery of essentials, including fresh fruits and vegetables in 10-30 min. However, speed of delivery has implications for postharvest management of highly perishable food items such as leafy greens and climacteric fruits (i.e., bananas, mangoes, tomatoes and peaches). There is a significant lack of research examining how physiological quality preservation methods influence consumer preferences for highly perishable items such as leafy greens and climacteric fruits. This research fills this gap by investigating urban consumers' preferences regarding the trade-off between delivery speed, price and quality preservation on q-commerce platforms. The study was conducted in the Coimbatore district in Tamil Nadu. A structured survey of 110 urban consumers in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, was conducted using convenience sampling. Choice-Based Conjoint (CBC) analysis under the Random Utility Theory framework was applied using an orthogonal design with three attributes: delivery speed, quality preservation methods and pricing. Consumer utility values were estimated using the Multinomial logit model (MNL) with significance testing at p&lt;0. 05. The results indicated that delivery speed held the highest relative importance (38 %, p&lt;0.001) in consumer preferences, followed by quality preservation methods (32 %, p&lt;0.001) and price sensitivity (30 %, p&lt;0.001). Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) revealed that physiological quality indicators such as freshness, ripeness and shelf life were the most influential latent factor (explaining 37.5 % of variance). Garrett Ranking identified inconsistent ripening (mean = 69.68) and high delivery charges (mean = 56.60) as the top barriers to purchasing fresh produce via quick commerce platforms.