Phased narrowing: A new process tracing method for decision making

Abstract

A new process tracing technique is presented which combines elements of traditional process tracing methods and methods designed to study the pre-screening of choice options and the formation of consideration sets. To demonstrate its usefulness, we provide data from a consumer decision making task in which subjects were asked to narrow the number of options over three successive decision stages from 18 to 6 to 3, and finally to 1. By examining the attribute values of the options selected at each stage, unique insights were gained into how both decision strategies and the impact of each attribute changed during the decision process and how these changes were related to measurable individual difference factors. The method, which we refer to as phased narrowing, is compared to and offered as a supplement to traditional process tracing approaches. © 1995 Academic Press. All rights reserved.