Edward R. Morey

Professor Emeritus

A Joint Latent-Class Model: Combining Likert-Scale Preference Statements With Choice Data to Harvest Preference Heterogeneity


Journal article


William S. Breffle, Edward R. Morey, Jennifer Thacher
Environmental and Resource Economics, vol. 50(1), 2011, pp. 83-110

DOI: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10640-011-9463-0

Semantic Scholar DOI
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APA   Click to copy
Breffle, W. S., Morey, E. R., & Thacher, J. (2011). A Joint Latent-Class Model: Combining Likert-Scale Preference Statements With Choice Data to Harvest Preference Heterogeneity. Environmental and Resource Economics, 50(1), 83–110. https://doi.org/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10640-011-9463-0


Chicago/Turabian   Click to copy
Breffle, William S., Edward R. Morey, and Jennifer Thacher. “A Joint Latent-Class Model: Combining Likert-Scale Preference Statements With Choice Data to Harvest Preference Heterogeneity.” Environmental and Resource Economics 50, no. 1 (2011): 83–110.


MLA   Click to copy
Breffle, William S., et al. “A Joint Latent-Class Model: Combining Likert-Scale Preference Statements With Choice Data to Harvest Preference Heterogeneity.” Environmental and Resource Economics, vol. 50, no. 1, 2011, pp. 83–110, doi:https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10640-011-9463-0.


BibTeX   Click to copy

@article{william2011a,
  title = {A Joint Latent-Class Model: Combining Likert-Scale Preference Statements With Choice Data to Harvest Preference Heterogeneity},
  year = {2011},
  issue = {1},
  journal = {Environmental and Resource Economics},
  pages = {83-110},
  volume = {50},
  doi = {https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10640-011-9463-0},
  author = {Breffle, William S. and Morey, Edward R. and Thacher, Jennifer}
}

Abstract: In addition to choice questions (revealed and stated choices), preference surveys typically include other questions that provide information about preferences. This preference-statement data includes questions on the importance of different attributes of a good or the extent of agreement with a particular statement. The intent of this paper is to model and jointly estimate preference heterogeneity using stated-preference choice data and preference-statement data. The starting point for this analysis is the belief that the individual has preferences, and both his/her choices and preference statements are manifestations of those preferences. Our modeling contribution is linking the choice data and preference-statement data in a latent-class framework. Estimation is straightforward using the E-M algorithm, even though our model has hundreds of preference parameters. Our estimates demonstrate that: (1) within a preference class, the importance anglers associate with different Green Bay site characteristics is in accordance with their responses to the preference statements; (2) estimated across-class utility parameters for fishing Green Bay are affected by the preference-statement data; (3) estimated across-class preference-statement response probabilities are affected by the inclusion of the choice data; and (4) both data sets influence the number of classes and the probability of belonging to a class as a function of the individual’s type.
Key words: Latent class; E-M algorithm; choice data; preference statements,Likert-scale; preferences; heterogeneity.