Using Individualised Choice Maps to Capture the Spatial Dimensions of Value Within Choice Experiments

Abstract

Understanding how the value of environmental goods and services is influenced by their location relative to where people live can help identify the economically optimal spatial distribution of conservation interventions across landscapes. However, capturing these spatial relationships within the confines of a stated preference study has proved challenging. We propose and implement a novel approach to incorporating space within the design and presentation of stated preference choice experiments (CE). Using an investigation of preferences concerning land use change in Great Britain, CE scenarios are presented through individually generated maps, tailored to each respondent’s home location. Each choice situation is generated in real time and is underpinned by spatially tailored experimental designs that reflect current British land uses and incorporate locational attributes relating to physical and administrative dimensions of space. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the first CE study to integrate space into both the survey design and presentation of choice tasks in this way. Presented methodology provides means for testing how presentation of spatial information influence stated preferences. We contrast our spatially explicit (mapped) approach with a commonly applied tabular CE approach finding that the former exhibits a number of desirable characteristics relative to the latter.