Testing & QA
How to test and quality-assure your DCE before and during fieldwork - pilot studies, cognitive interviewing, soft launches, and consistency checks.
Knowledge Base -> Testing & QA
SurveyEngine, 09.07.2026
General methodology
The science of attention checks - Imperfectly attentive respondents are often more representative of the real world than attentive ones. Excluding attention check failures carries severe risks for external validity.
Cognitive interviewing for DCE survey testing - Cognitive interviews reveal how respondents actually interpret your survey - which is often very different from how you intended it.
Pilot study design for a discrete choice experiment - A pilot study is not optional in DCE research. It is the only way to identify problems with your design before they contaminate your main dataset.
Health research
Ethics approval for health preference DCE studies - Patient preference studies invariably require ethics approval. Getting this right from the start saves weeks of delay and protects your study's credibility.
PII handling and adverse event monitoring in patient surveys - Patient surveys that collect health information have specific obligations around personally identifiable information and the possibility of adverse event disclosure.
Transport research
Testing attribute levels in transport SP surveys - Attribute levels that are too narrow produce insufficient variation; levels that feel unrealistic disengage respondents. Testing levels before the main study prevents wasted data.
Soft launch and fieldwork monitoring for transport SP surveys - A soft launch - collecting 5–10% of your sample before opening fully - catches problems early when they can still be fixed.
Environmental research
Pre-identifying protest respondents in environmental DCEs - Protest responses can be partially anticipated before the choice tasks begin. Pre-screening attitudes can improve data quality and inform your analysis strategy.
Testing scope sensitivity in environmental valuation DCEs - Scope sensitivity - WTP increasing with the scope of environmental improvement - is a fundamental validity criterion for environmental valuation studies. Failing this test undermines your results.