A COMPARISON OF HYPOTHETICAL PHONE AND MAIL CONTINGENT VALUATION RESPONSES FOR GREEN PRICING ELECTRICITY PROGRAMS

Ethier, Robert G.; Poe, Gregory L.; Schulze, William D.; Clark, Jeremy

A COMPARISON OF HYPOTHETICAL PHONE AND MAIL CONTINGENT VALUATION RESPONSES FOR GREEN PRICING ELECTRICITY PROGRAMS

Abstract

To date, much of the policy and research debate on contingent valuation mode effects has relied on experiences drawn from other research disciplines. This study provides the first contingent valuation phone-mail comparison that meets current standards for response rates, draws from a general population, is relevant to the valuation of general environmental goods, and allows comparisons with actual sign-ups. Consistent with previous research in other disciplines, social desirability bias is found in responses to subjective questions --thus leading to more environmentally favorable responses on the phone. However, this effect does not carry over to hypothetical participation decisions. Hypothetical bias is found in both modes. Yet, application of calibration methods using debriefing questions provided nearly identical values across modes. As such, neither mode appears to dominate from the perspective of providing more valid estimates of actual participation decisions. The selection of survey mode must be based on other criteria.

Description

WP 1997-25 December 1997

Sponsorship

We wish to thank the National Science Foundation, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation as sponsors of this research. Funding for this research was provided by NSF/EPA Grant R 824688 under the 1995 Partnership for Environmental Research: Decision Making and Valuation for Environmental Policy Program.

Date Issued

1997-12-01

Publisher

Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University

Types

article