Proposing an Appropriate Approach to Performing “Choice Experiment”: a Case Study of Assessing the Socio-Economic Consequences of the Corona Pandemic

The corona pandemic is a phenomenon that has caused a crisis in the world due to its rapid spread and unstoppable nature. This crisis, however, seems to have a purely medical and health-related nature. But it is a multidimensional phenomenon which effects and consequences can be studied and evaluated in various fields.The purpose of this study is to propose an appropriate approach in implementing the choice experiment method from the perspective of heterogeneity expressed in individuals’ preferences. In the present study, using the choice experiment method, the factors influencing the selection of individuals from the options of the selection sets (including mental illness, unemployment, change in social activities, family problems, concerns about social discriminations) have been identified. Because in choice experiment some respondents may not consider all the features or levels provided; This causes heterogeneity in the behavior of respondents. To investigate the effect of this heterogeneity on the selection process of different individuals in the sample population (Tehran), in this study, a new approach of endogenous attribute attendance in the logit model was used. The information required for the research was obtained by completing 384 questionnaires completely randomly by different people in 2021. The results of estimating the two logit models in terms of endogenous attribute attendance (EAA) and conditional logit indicate that the average tendency to Payment for features defined in the model (EAA) is higher than the conditional logit model.Because the EAA model considers the probabilities of the absence of certain features in individuals' preferences, it will have reliable results for estimating the willingness to pay.