title: Oaths and hypothetical bias.
abstract: Results from experiments using an oath to eliminate hypothetical bias in stated preference valuation are presented. An oath has several potential advantages relative to other methods for reducing hypothetical bias. Our empirical results suggest that with an oath, mean hypothetical payments are not different from mean actual payments and that when controlling for experimental participants' characteristics using regression analyses, the oath eliminated hypothetical bias.
authors.affiliation: Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts, 224 Stockbridge Hall, Amherst, MA 01003, USA. tstevens@resecon.umass.edu
authors.forename: T H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tabatabaei
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lass
mesh_terms: D004989:Ethics; D006801:Humans; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012927:Social Control, Informal; D035501:Uncertainty
keywords: Economic valuation; Experimental economics; Hypothetical bias; Stated preferences