Assessing the elicitation of perceived status quo information as a tool to increase survey engagement and enhance accuracy of preference estimates in discrete choice experiments

Recent advancements in choice modelling practice include the embedding of individual heterogeneity in the modelling procedure by matching subjective perceptions about the status quo with experimentally designed choice cards. Beyond potentially mitigating bias in welfare estimations, we argue that the process of eliciting status quo information increases the engagement of respondents with the survey, rendering them more prepared to receive context-specific information and conduct hypothetical trade-offs. Moreover, it enables the researcher to utilise the perceived status quo information to provide choice sets that are specific to each respondent. To assess the gains of the practice, we ran a choice experiment survey with two separate samples that followed distinct preference elicitation procedures, the main difference being whether respondents were asked or not to state their perceived status quo prior to or following the choice task. By conducting independent hypothesis testing for each sample, we found that respondents who were asked to state their perceptions prior to the choice task made likely better use of the provided information while their decision-making was less likely to be governed by an anti-status quo effect. On the other hand, respondents who did not state their perceptions prior to the choice task made inconsistent choices, particularly by opting for scenarios inferior to their perceived status quo.