The effects of pre-experimental training on the validity and reliability of conjoint analysis : the case of housing preference

The applicability of conjoint analysis to measure housing preferences has been intensively debated in housing research. How to improve respondent understanding of the profiles and whether visual or verbal representation should be preferred are relevant issues in this context. This article reports the results of a study that was designed to assess the effects of pre-experimental training, using virtual reality, on various forms of validity. Results suggest that the use of virtual reality helping subjects to learn about the nature of the attributes that are varied in the conjoint experiment significantly improves the validity of the conjoint analysis.