Of Mice and Pens: A Discrete Choice Experiment on Assignment Systems in Economics
35 Pages Posted: 25 Oct 2012
Date Written: June 28, 2012
Abstract
Technological advances have led to a rise in the variety of ways of delivering assignments, most notably, the use of online assignment systems. The main contribution of this paper is to use a Discrete Choice Experiment to elicit students’ preferences for various possible attributes of assignment systems. Our results indicate that students have the strongest preference for assignment systems containing questions that have a high relevance for exam preparation. They also have a strong preference for assignment systems that provide a high level of feedback. Our results indicate that there is a high degree of heterogeneity within the student cohort in their preferences towards various attributes of assignment systems with some students willing to pay over €180 for assignment systems that have a high level of exam relevance while others are only willing to pay €30.
Keywords: discrete choice experiment, willingness to pay, latent class model, assignment systems, student preferences
JEL Classification: A20, A22
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation