ALWAYS KEEP AN EYE ON THE HOLISTIC CONCEPT WITH THE PAIRED COMPARISION CONJOINT METHOD

With the Paired Comparison Conjoint Method (PCC), the concepts are clearly in focus, the pair comparison over a scale enables intuitive concept evaluation. A focus on individual features is avoided.

THE PCC IS A SIMPLIFIED ACA

The Paired Comparison Conjoint can be seen as a simplified version of Adaptive Conjoint Analysis. The principle of this method consists of asking the respondents to rate multiple pairs of combinations of levels of the attributes under study.

The normal phases of an adaptive conjoint – the ranking or rating of levels and the inquiry of the importance of features – are not employed. Because in this way only holistic concepts are presented and a focus on individual attributes is avoided, this method offers the fundamental advantages of a pure conjoint approach.

EXTREMLY SIMPLE SURVEY TECHNIQUE OF PAIRED COMPARISION CONJOINT

For each task, two concepts are constructed and presented as alternatives. The respondents are asked to choose one of the two concepts. They can grade their choice on a rating scale. When the respondent’s preference is very clear-cut, they should choose an extreme scale point for the preferred concept. The less clear-cut the preference, the closer the rating should be to the center of the scale. The central point on the scale says that the two concepts are rated equally.

As an alternative to discrete rating scales, a slider can be used which can be moved to the right or left according to the direction and extent of the preference.

To obtain answers that are as informative as possible, the pairs are selected – based on previously given responses – in such a way that as far as possible the respondents prefer both concepts to an equal extent. Nevertheless, to achieve results with comparable precision more tasks must be presented than in the paired comparison stage of an ACA or in a CBC with 3 or more concepts per task.