Project planning for a DCE study

A DCE study has eight distinct phases each with its own deliverables, dependencies, and risk points. Planning them correctly determines whether the project delivers on time and on budget.

This article provides a practical project planning framework for DCE studies, from the initial research brief through to final reporting - including typical timelines, common risk points, and how SurveyEngine's research management service supports complex projects.

Ben White, 07.07.2026

Why DCE projects go wrong

Discrete choice experiment studies fail in predictable ways: the qualitative phase is skipped and attributes are chosen without evidence; the pilot study is omitted to save time; patient recruitment takes three times longer than planned; the design needs to be regenerated after the pilot because attributes were misunderstood; the ethics approval takes six weeks instead of two.

Each of these failures is foreseeable and manageable with proper project planning. The difference between a well-planned and a poorly planned DCE study is often the difference between a regulatory-grade evidence package and a study that cannot be published or submitted.

The eight phases of a DCE project

Phase 1: Research brief and feasibility (1–2 weeks). Define the research question, target population, decision context, and required outputs. Estimate feasibility - incidence rate, available sample, ethics requirements.

Phase 2: Qualitative research (4–8 weeks). Conduct interviews or focus groups with target respondents to identify attributes and levels. This phase cannot be skipped.

Phase 3: Survey design and experimental design (2–4 weeks). Develop the survey instrument, generate the D-efficient design, and prepare materials for ethics submission.

Phase 4: Ethics approval (2–12 weeks, depending on jurisdiction). Submit ethics application and respond to reviewer queries. Build in maximum time - ethics delays are the most common cause of project overruns.

Phase 5: Pilot study (2–4 weeks). Deploy to 30–50 respondents, review data quality, and revise design if necessary.

Phase 6: Main fieldwork (4–8 weeks). Run the main study with soft launch, interim review, and full deployment.

Phase 7: Data analysis and modelling (2–4 weeks). Clean data, estimate choice models, calculate WTP estimates and confidence intervals.

Phase 8: Reporting (2–4 weeks). Write up results in the required format - academic paper, regulatory submission, policy report.

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Planning your DCE project with SurveyEngine

Step 1: Create a project timeline with dependencies. Map all eight phases onto a Gantt chart or project management tool. Identify dependencies - ethics approval cannot start before the survey instrument is finalised; main fieldwork cannot start before the pilot is reviewed.

Step 2: Build in contingency at every stage. Add 50% contingency to ethics approval time and 30% contingency to patient recruitment time. These are the most variable and least controllable phases.

Step 3: Identify and mitigate critical path risks. The critical path typically runs through qualitative research → design → ethics → pilot → main fieldwork. A delay in any of these phases delays the whole project.

Step 4: Use SurveyEngine's research management service for complex projects. For multi-country studies, regulatory-grade patient preference studies, or projects requiring coordination of panels, translators, and multiple vendors, SurveyEngine's dedicated project managers provide a single point of accountability.

Step 5: Define clear deliverable acceptance criteria. For each phase, define what a successful deliverable looks like. For the pilot study: consistency check pass rate > 85%, average task time > 15 seconds, preliminary parameters in expected direction. This prevents scope creep and disputes about whether a phase is complete.

Worked example - project plan for a health preference study

A patient preference study for an FDA submission has the following planned timeline: qualitative (6 weeks) → design and IRB submission (4 weeks) → IRB review (8 weeks) → pilot (3 weeks) → main fieldwork (8 weeks) → analysis (3 weeks) → report (3 weeks). Total: 35 weeks from kickoff to final report.

With contingency, the project is planned for 42 weeks. The actual timeline is 44 weeks - IRB raised one round of queries (2 weeks), and patient recruitment ran one week over due to low incidence rates in one panel. Both delays were within the contingency budget. The study delivers on schedule for the FDA submission deadline.