AN EXPERIMENTAL COMPARISON OF DICHOTOMOUS CHOICE CONTINGENT VALUATIONQUESTIONS AND REAL PURCHASE DECISIONS

In this paper the results of an experiment comparing the dichotomous c hoice (DC) contingent valuation (CV) approach with real purchase decis ions for a consumer good are reported. In addition to comparing the st andard DC CV approach with real decisions, we also test the hypothesis that a more conservative interpretation of the DC approach, where onl y absolutely sure yes responses are counted as yes responses, correctl y predicts real purchase decisions. The results show that the hypothet ical yes responses overestimate the real yes responses and that the hy pothetical absolutely sure yes responses underestimate the real yes re sponses.