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Abstract
An elicitation format prevalently applied in DCE is to offer each respondent a sequence
of choice tasks containing more than two choice options. However, empirical evidence
indicates that repeated choice tasks influence choice behavior through institutional
learning, fatigue, value learning, and strategic response. The study reported in this paper
employs a split sample approach based on field surveys using a single binary elicitation
format with a majority vote implementation as the baseline to expand the research on
effects of sequential binary DCE formats. We provide evidence for effects caused by
institutional learning and either strategic behavior or value learning after respondents
answered repeated choice questions. However, we did not find any indications for
strategic behavior caused by awareness of having multiple choices. The choice between a
sequential and a single elicitation format may thus imply a trade-off between decreased
choice accuracy and potentially increased strategic behavior due to an incentive
incompatible mechanism. Further research is needed to explore strategic behavior
induced by incentive incompatible elicitation formats using alternative approaches that
are not compromised by a confounded baseline, that facilitate the differentiation between
value learning and strategic behavior, and that allow the use of less restrictive model
specifications. Such research should also investigate the effects of varying incentives
induced by the order in which choice questions are presented to respondents.