Reducing the anchoring bias in multiple question CV surveys

Abstract

The elicitation format is a crucial aspect of Contingent Valuation (CV) surveys and can impact their reliability. This paper contributes to the extensive debate on WTP (Willingness To Pay) elicitation formats by assessing whether the Circular Payment Card (CPC) can reduce anchoring on respondents' previous answers under multiple elicitation questions. This new format uses a visual pie-chart representation without start or end points: respondents spin the circular card in any direction until they find the section that best matches their WTP. We used a CV survey based on two ways of reducing risks associated with flooding, each randomly presented first to half of the respondents, to test the absolute performance of CPC. We presented a second survey on two social insurance schemes for subjects currently uninsured to respondents randomly split into three subgroups. Each group's WTP was elicited using one of three formats: Open-Ended (OE), standard Payment Card (PC) and the new CPC. The two insurance schemes were always proposed in the same order, and we assessed the relative performance of CPC by comparing anchoring across respondents. Our results provide evidence that CPC is likely to reduce anchoring in multiple elicitation questions and that respondents may rely on different heuristic decisions when giving WTP in the OE and in the two PC formats.

Valuations of Transport Nuisances and Cognitive Biases: A Survey Laboratory Experiment in the Pyrenees Region

“…There had been numerous and consistent evidence for anchoring bias, which seems to depend strongly from elicitation format. For instance, Champenois et al (2018) showed that in the case of a contingent valuation survey, a circular payment card reduces anchoring compared to the standard one (closed-ended formats). Our results showed that, even with an open-ended format as ours, individual bids to obtain the nuisance reduction, that should avoid anchoring coming from numerical cue, we have obtained some endogenous anchoring bias.…”

Estimating willingness to pay for public health insurance while accounting for protest responses: A further step towards universal health coverage in Tunisia?

“…The rationale for employing these three elicitation techniques stems from the fact that the information collected on the respondents' WTP tend to be affected by the format of these techniques. Comparisons between the results obtained from these three elicitation techniques have been carefully examined in two companion papers 29,30 . Finally, the questionnaire gathered information on the respondents' socio‐economic, socio‐demographic and health characteristics.…”

“…If respondents were not willing to join, they were then asked to state the reason(s) and whether they would join the scheme if it was offered for free or at a Three different elicitation techniques were employed to gather information on respondents' WTP values: the well-known Open-Ended (OE) and Payment Card (PC) techniques, 27,28 and a variant known as the Circular Payment Card (CPC). 29,30 The CPC uses a visual representation of a circular card with no pre-determined start or end points.…”

“…Comparisons between the results obtained from these three elicitation techniques have been carefully examined in two companion papers. 29,30 Finally, the questionnaire gathered information on the respondents' socio-economic, socio-demographic and health characteristics. In addition, respondents were asked to state their opinions on the proposed insurance scheme.…”

Navigating the Stock Market: Modeling Wealth Exchange and Network Interaction with Loss Aversion, Disposition Effect and Anchoring and Adjustment Bias

“…They underscore the importance of being aware of how initial information or personal experiences can serve as anchors, potentially leading to biased adjustments and decisions. Champonnois et al (2018) tested the potential of different survey formats to mitigate the anchoring effect, revealing how various formats can influence participants' decision-making processes. This study emphasizes the impact of presentation and context on reducing cognitive biases.…”