Adaptive Self-Explication of Multiattribute Preferences

This 2011 paper by Oded Netzer and V. Srinivasan introduces Adaptive Self-Explication (ASE), a new web-based method for measuring consumer preferences across many product attributes. ASE improves upon traditional self-explicated methods by having users rank attributes and then complete a sequence of adaptively chosen constant-sum paired comparisons. Two studies, on digital cameras and laptops, demonstrated that ASE significantly better predicts consumer choices compared to existing techniques like Adaptive Conjoint Analysis (ACA), the fast polyhedral method (FPM), and traditional self-explication. The authors argue that ASE's enhanced predictive accuracy stems from its incorporation of trade-offs and efficient, adaptive questioning, leading to more reliable preference measurements with potentially shorter surveys.