The effect of using labelled alternatives in stated choice experiments: an exploration focusing on farmland walking trails in Ireland

Discrete choice experiment data aimed at eliciting the demand for recreationalwalking trails on farmland in Ireland is used to explore whether some respondentsreach their choices solely on the basis of the alternative’s label. To investigatethis type of processing strategy, the paper exploits a discrete mixtures approachwhich encompasses random parameters for the attributes. We find evidence thatrespondents employ different processing strategies for different alternatives anddifferences in processing emerge between rural and urban based respondents. Resultshighlight that model fit and policy conclusions are sensitive to assumptionsrelated to processing strategies among respondents