We use a common product to address an arcane problem – but it will help us to do even better FMCG research in future.

Decision Strategies in Pasta Sauce Selection

This is an academic study aimed at advancing DCM theory. The status quo in the design and modelling of Stated Preference Choice experiment is to assume the respondents’ Decision Strategy is ‘Weighted Additive’ (WADD) – all the alternatives are considered and their pros and cons added up. Here we test whether another Decision Strategy, ‘Elimination By Aspect’ (EBA) is actually being employed. EBA assumes respondents will choose by a process of elimination based on attributes of the alternative, for example, “only Brand X, nothing with cheese, nothing with olives, must be small, not in a tin can…”

We will also study whether, in some cases, respondents use a mixture of the two strategies. A simple thought experiment suggests this is almost certainly the case for some decisions. Consider walking into a wine shop to buy wine. Most people would first eliminate “must be - Red, South Australian, under $20” then use an additive rule to decide between the alternatives in the subset they have created.

The discoveries we make here will allow us to make even better designs and models for many types of practical choice scenario.