Optimal Conflict in Preference Assessment
研究选择冲突（即选项间优劣差距大）如何影响偏好测量的效率，发现存在一个最优冲突水平，既能减少测量误差又能获取更多偏好信息，并通过简单例子展示分析方法，适用于消费者研究、实验和条件价值评估等大规模数据收集场景。
Conflict arises in decision making when the choice alternatives present strong advantages and disadvantages over one another, that is, when the trade–offs involved are large. Conflict affects human response to choice, in particular, it increases decision difficulty and response unreliability. On the other hand, larger trade–offs, i.e., higher conflict, reveal more information about an individual's preferences and mitigate the influence of measurement unreliability on preference model estimation. This suggests, somewhat counterintuitively, that there may exist some optimal level of conflict for efficient measurement of preferences. How to determine this level? This issue is examined from behavioral and analytical angles. We outline a general analysis of the interaction between trade–off size and modeling accuracy, and demonstrate its application on a simple example. The kind of analysis developed here can be conveniently implemented in a computer spreadsheet, and would be especially valuable when large amounts of preference data are to be collected, as in consumer preference studies, experimental research, and contingent valuation surveys.