Position Bias in Best‐worst Scaling Surveys: A Case Study on Trust in Institutions
研究了最佳-最差标度调查中物品位置对消费者选择的影响，发现约半数消费者利用位置作为选择线索，尤其在选最信任机构时偏差更明显，提醒研究者注意问卷设计中的位置偏差。
Abstract This paper investigates the effect of items’ physical position in the best‐worst scaling technique. Although the best‐worst scaling technique has been widely used in many fields, the literature has largely overlooked the phenomenon of consumers’ adoption of processing strategies while making their best‐worst choices. We examine this issue in the context of consumers’ trust in institutions to provide information about a new food technology, nanotechnology, and its use in food processing. Our results show that approximately half of the consumers used position as a schematic cue when making choices. We find the position bias was particularly strong when consumers chose their most trustworthy institution compared to their least trustworthy institution. In light of our findings, we recommend that researchers in the field be aware of the possibility of position bias when designing best‐worst scaling surveys. We also encourage researchers who have already collected best‐worst data to investigate whether their data shows such heuristics.