Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- Part I Basic topics
- 1 In the beginning
- 2 Basic notions of statistics
- 3 Choosing
- 4 Paradigms of choice data
- 5 Processes in setting up stated choice experiments
- 6 Choices in data collection
- 7 NLOGIT for applied choice analysis: a primer
- 8 Handling choice data
- 9 Case study: mode-choice data
- 10 Getting started modeling: the basic MNL model
- 11 Getting more from your model
- 12 Practical issues in the application of choice models
- Part II Advanced topics
- Glossary
- References
- Index
1 - In the beginning
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- Part I Basic topics
- 1 In the beginning
- 2 Basic notions of statistics
- 3 Choosing
- 4 Paradigms of choice data
- 5 Processes in setting up stated choice experiments
- 6 Choices in data collection
- 7 NLOGIT for applied choice analysis: a primer
- 8 Handling choice data
- 9 Case study: mode-choice data
- 10 Getting started modeling: the basic MNL model
- 11 Getting more from your model
- 12 Practical issues in the application of choice models
- Part II Advanced topics
- Glossary
- References
- Index
Summary
Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.
(Will Durant, 1885–1991)Why did we choose to write this primer? Can it be explained by some inherent desire to seek personal gain, or was it some other less self-centered interest? In determining the reason, we are revealing an underlying objective. It might be one of maximizing our personal satisfaction level or that of satisfying some community-based objective (or social obligation). Whatever the objective, it is likely that there are a number of reasons why we made such a choice (between writing and not writing this primer) accompanied by a set of constraints that had to be taken into account. An example of a reason might be to “promote the field of research and practice of choice analysis”; examples of constraints might be the time commitment and the financial outlay.
Readers should be able to think of choices that they have made in the last seven days. Some of these might be repetitive and even habitual (such as taking the bus to work instead of the train or car), buying the same daily newspaper (instead of other ones on sale); other choices might be a one-off decision (such as going to the movies to watch a latest release or purchasing this book). Many choice situations involve more than one choice, such as choosing a destination and means of transport to get there, or choosing where to live and the type of dwelling.
The storyline above is rich in information about what we need to include in a study of the choice behavior of individuals.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Applied Choice AnalysisA Primer, pp. 3 - 7Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005