Discrete choice experiment

Rationale of use

The Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) is a valuable method for assessing farmers’ preferences regarding new policy measures by estimating their willingness to accept various design options before implementations. This tool is being tested in one of the Case Studies of Tools4CAP.

Functioning

The tool has the following main methodological stages: 1. Study design: selection of the CAP intervention to be valued, selection of attributes, assignment of levels. This step should be conducted in cooperation with the Managing Authority and through discussions with farmers and other relevant stakeholders. 2. Survey creation: choice of experimental design, construction of choice sets, selection of secondary questions in the survey (contextual). This step will require access and use of relevant software. 3. Piloting: the survey and experimental design are pre-tested on a small sample of farmers. The results of the pilot are used to modify the survey where necessary and to calculate priors, which are used for generating the final experimental design. 4. Data collection: the survey is sent to farmers. They are asked to choose their most preferred options among the alternatives on the choice sets they are presented with. Data collection can take place online (preferably in this case study) or face to face with trained surveyors. 5. Result analysis: econometric analysis of the data with relevant choice models to estimate the utility and willingness to accept (WTA) the levels related to each attribute.

Types of outputs

The tool analyzes the values placed on various attributes (such as requirements and payments) and assesses farmers' willingness to accept changes in these attributes. This analysis helps identify the key factors influencing farmers' decisions and preferences when it comes to policy adjustments.

Relevant CAP objective

All

Sources

NA