THE TRADE-OFF MODEL: EMPIRICAL AND STRUCTURAL FINDINGS

This paper reports on a number of investigations done by N.Y.S.D.O.T. to investigate empirical and theoretical aspects of trade-off analysis, a multidimensional attitude scaling procedure. Using a split half sample of 110 N.Y.S.D.O.T. employees, and a questionnaire on staggered work hours, the trade-off procedure was compared to categorical judgement. It was found that the methods are not equivalent: the trade-off procedure is preferential for the analysis of incremental changes in policy. Another analysis was conducted to investigate possible respondent fatigue effects due to the lengthy questionnaire: the effect was found to be significant. Further investigation was conducted to investigate the effect of a reduction in the questionnaire length. In general, a reduction of at least 50% in the number of required data matrices can be achieved without a significant loss in the quality of the results. Finally, the sensitivity of the procedure to a number of utility integration rules was investigated. While small differences in the results were found, they are small enough to be of little concern to the practioner using the procedure. The research concluded that the trade-off procedure is a powerful robust approach that can be used with confidence. /Author/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This report was prepared in part with the financial assistance of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
• Corporate Authors:

  New York State Department of Transportation

  Planning Division, State Campus, Building 4
  Albany, NY  United States  12232
• Authors:
  • Eberts, P M
  • Koeppel, KWP
• Publication Date: 1977-7

Media Info

• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: 29 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alternatives analysis; Attitudes; Empirical methods; Fatigue (Physiological condition); Mathematical models; Questionnaires; Sensitivity; Staggered work hours; Traffic measurement; Transportation planning; Urban transportation; Utility theory
• Uncontrolled Terms: Models; Scaling
• Subject Areas: Economics; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00172885
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: Res. Rpt. 123
• Files: TRIS, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Apr 12 1981 12:00AM