Modelling heterogeneity in response behaviour towards a sequence of discrete choice questions: a latent class approach (original) (raw)
Related papers
Heterogeneity of preferences for the benefits of Environmental Stewardship: A latent-class approach
Ecological Economics, 2012
Since 2005, Environmental Stewardship (ES) has been the principal agri-environment scheme for England and is the key instrument for the delivery of increased environmental benefits from agricultural landscapes. The main objective of this study is to investigate whether or not individuals' preferences for the environmental benefits associated with ES vary depending on types of landscapes within which these benefits are delivered. A latent class model is applied to data obtained from a choice experiment survey of over 1000 respondents sampled across England. The results suggest that individuals have heterogenous preferences for the benefits of ES, though different segments of the population with more homogenous preferences can be identified. In particular, higher levels of benefit are often associated with the operation of ES in landscapes close to where respondents live. This leads to the suggestion that, in order to maximise the benefits of ES, its implementation could take this result into account by encouraging greater uptake from farmers whose land is closer to large populations.
A latent class model for discrete choice analysis: contrasts with mixed logit
Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, 2003
The multinomial logit model (MNL) has for many years provided the fundamental platform for the analysis of discrete choice. The basic model's several shortcomings, most notably its inherent assumption of independence from irrelevant alternatives (IIA) have motivated researchers to develop a variety of alternative formulations. The mixed logit model stands as one of the most significant of these extensions. This paper proposes a semi-parametric extension of the MNL, based on the latent class formulation, which resembles the mixed logit model but which relaxes its requirement that the analyst makes specific assumptions about the distributions of parameters across individuals. An application of the model to the choice of long distance travel by three road types (2-lane, 4-lane without a median and 4lane with a median) by car in New Zealand is used to compare the MNL latent class model with mixed logit.
Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia
The fundamental objective of discrete Choice Experiments (CEs) model or Choice Modelling (CM) is to understand the behavioural processes among individuals which drive the choice decisions based on selected attributes and choice options. Preferences may differ among individuals triggered by their specific characteristics such as sociodemographics, constraints and attitudes. Preferences could also vary among groups and within a particular group by forming different segments of groups or subgroups. The Latent Class (LC) model is a distinctive approach which can accommodate preference heterogeneity where preferences are assumed to be relatively homogenous within the segments, but substantially different between the segments. This LC model was applied to account for preference heterogeneity among aquaculturists in the Setiu Wetlands, Terengganu. Currently, fish cage culture is the main socioeconomic activity which imposes considerable impacts on the wetland ecosystem and thus affect its ability to deliver ecosystem service outcomes to other stakeholder groups. This research quantifies the aquaculturists' preferences heterogeneity with regard to the ecosystem impacts under different management scenarios. The existence of subdivisions of preferences within the stakeholder subgroups was tested. This study revealed three latent classes or segments which show relatively distinct sets of preferences. Segment 1 shows a strong preference for higher harvest rates, a moderately strong preference for higher fisheries income and a moderately strong preference for lower shellfish collections. Segment 2 shows a moderately strong linear preference for higher harvest rates and a very strong preference for retaining the status quo. Segment 3 shows a perplexing set of significant preferences for increasing harvest rates and a modest preference for higher fisheries income. In direct contrast to Segment 2, Segment 3 shows a very strong aversion to retaining the status quo. The results of aquaculturists' preferences for delivery of different ecosystem services in Setiu Wetlands suggest that Latent Class Model (LCM) could be applied successfully in a Malaysian setting. The success of the LC model is evidenced by the high level of fit obtained from the best fitting models. The main finding of this research suggests that a good understanding of the main research objective, familiarity with the research area and carefully designed choice set, as well as employing appropriately trained enumerators are the main factors that particularly contribute to a successful application of the LC model in a developing country setting.
Sociological Methods & Research
Multifactorial survey experiments such as stated choice experiments are used more and more frequently in social science research. In this article, based on an experimental study on ethical and political consumption, we explore the potential of hybrid choice models to explicitly model latent psychological factors such as attitudes, overcoming a possible endogeneity bias and misrepresentation of causality. To this end, we employ a hybrid latent class choice model (HLCCM) in which the latent class structure allocates individuals to classes according to underlying latent attitudes that also influence the answers to attitudinal questions. This allows, in line with sociological action theories, a theory-guided testing of preference segmentation and modification caused by attitudes. We compare the complex HLCCM with less complex models that do not take the latent variable nature of attitudes into account and discuss in which cases less complex models might be more appropriate. However, the...
International Journal of Sustainable Transportation
Adverse environmental impacts caused by increasing air travel put pressure on governments and the airline industry to take mitigating actions. However, taking effective actions that are accepted by airline passengers requires an understanding of air travelers' preferences. To reach this understanding, a statedchoice experiment is conducted among Dutch air travelers. The survey is appended with measures of attitudes toward air travel and climate change. The heterogeneity in passengers' preferences is revealed by estimating a discrete-choice latent class model, which aims to identify classes in the population that are homogeneous in their preferences. The attitudinal constructs are additionally included in the model to predict class membership. Three classes are identified: price hunters, luggage lovers, and ecoflyers. Overall, the study indicates that a considerable portion of the air travelers derive utility from passenger-oriented environmental policies. Based on the revealed passenger segments, specific policy measures are proposed.
Participatory Educational Research, 2020
This study examined the existence of latent classes in TIMSS 2015 data from three countries, Singapure, Turkey and South Africa, were analyzed using Mixture Item Response Theory (MixIRT) models (Rasch, 1PL, 2PL and 3PL) on 18 multiple-choice items in the science subtest. Based on the findings, it was concluded that the data obtained from TIMSS 2015 8th grade science subtest have a heterogeneous structure consisting of two latent classes. When the item difficulty parameters in two classes were examined for Singapore, it was determined that the items were considerably easy for the students in Class 1 and the items were easy for the students in Class 2. When the item difficulty parameters in two classes were examined for Turkey, it was found that the items were easy for the students in Class 1 and the items were difficult for the students in Class 2. When the item difficulty parameters in two classes were examined for South Africa, it was ascertained that the items were a bit easy for the students in Class 1 and the items were considerably difficult for the students in Class 2. The findings were discussed in the context of the assumption of parameter invariance and test validity.
Item Response Theory Models for Forced-Choice Questionnaires
2018
espanolLos cuestionarios de eleccion forzosa multidimensionales son considerados un medio para el control de los sesgos de respuesta. Historicamente, su aplicacion se ha visto obstaculizada por la ipsatividad de sus puntuaciones, que impide hacer comparaciones entre individuos. Recientemente, se ha aplicado la teoria de respuesta al item en este contexto, la cual permite obtener medidas normativas. Esta tesis presenta el modelo Multi-Unidimensional Pairwise Preference-2 Parameter Logistic para cuestionarios de pares de eleccion forzosa. Consta de tres manuscritos, cada uno con objetivos diferentes. El primero presenta el modelo y propone un procedimiento de estimacion Bayesiana conjunta de los parametros estructurales e incidentales. Pone a prueba dicha estimacion en diferentes condiciones en un estudio de simulacion, asi como en datos empiricos, y compara sus resultados con un procedimiento frecuentista basado en modelos de ecuaciones estructurales. El segundo manuscrito se centra ...