Group-based versus individual-based conjoint preference models of residential preferences : a comparative test

The conjoint preference approach, measuring individual preferences, has a long history in the study of residential decisionmaking processes. Residential choice behaviour, however, is often the result of a group decisionmaking process. In this paper we investigate whether conjoint preference models derived from group responses are different from and predict better than conventional conjoint models derived from the responses of individuals who do not interact during the data-collection process. In particular, we propose a new approach to modelling group preferences for residential choice alternatives that extends previous work of Timmermans et al. The new approach is illustrated in an application among 193 families with children. The results confirm that preference structures of individual family members differ from group preference structures and that the proposed group-based model predicts family preferences for new residential environments better than do conventional models.