The validity of conjoint analysis: An investigation of commercial studies over time

Abstract

Due to more and more online questionnaires and possible distraction—e.g. by mails, social network messages, or news reading during the processing in an uncontrolled environment—one can assume that the (internal and external) validity of conjoint analyses lowers. We test this assumption by comparing the (internal and external) validity of commercial conjoint analyses over the last years. Research base are (disguised) recent commercial conjoint analyses of a leading international marketing research company in this field with about 1.000 conjoint analyses per year. The validity information is analyzed w.r.t. research objective, product type, period, incentives, and other categories, also w.r.t. other outcomes like interview length and response rates. The results show some interesting changes in the validity of these conjoint analyses. Additionally, new procedures to deal with this setting will be shown.