An Examination of the Use of Unacceptable Levels in Conjoint Analysis

Abstract

Unacceptable levels in conjoint analysis are studied using both afull profile method and Sawtooth Software's Adaptive Conjoint Analysis.The utility of an unacceptable level was set equal to a value thatwould have been assigned if the unacceptable levels question wasnot asked, but the respondent treated that level as unacceptable.With ADA, this resulted in a model with (a) superior predictive powerrelative to a model that eliminates alternatives with unacceptablelevels and (b) equivalent predictive power to a compensatory modelthat does not consider unacceptable levels. Furthermore, in thisapplication, this was accomplished even though the respondent waspresented with approximately 30 percent fewer paired comparison observations.Copyright 1992 by the University of Chicago.