Compare methods

	Choice Experiment Valuation	Contingent Valuation	Contingent Valuation Method
Field	Economics	Economics	Economics
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	1974	1963	1963
Originator	Random utility theory (McFadden); applied to valuation by Louviere & Hensher	Robert Davis	Robert K. Davis (early use); methodology codified by the NOAA panel
Type	Attribute-based stated-preference valuation method	Stated preference valuation method	Survey-based stated-preference valuation method
Seminal source	McFadden, D. (1974). Conditional logit analysis of qualitative choice behavior. In P. Zarembka (Ed.), Frontiers in Econometrics (pp. 105–142). New York: Academic Press. ISBN: 9780127761503	Mitchell, R. C., & Carson, R. T. (1989). Using Surveys to Value Public Goods: The Contingent Valuation Method. Resources for the Future.	Hanemann, W. M. (1994). Valuing the environment through contingent valuation. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 8(4), 19–43.
Aliases	Discrete Choice Experiment, DCE, Choice-Based Conjoint Valuation, Stated Choice Experiment	CVM, Willingness-to-Pay Survey, WTP Elicitation	CVM, Stated-Preference Valuation, Willingness-to-Pay Survey, Survey-Based Non-Market Valuation
Related	2	3	2
Summary	A choice experiment (discrete choice experiment, DCE) is an attribute-based stated-preference method that values non-market goods by describing them as bundles of characteristics and asking respondents to choose repeatedly among competing alternatives — one of which always carries a cost. Grounded in random utility theory, the choices are modeled with a discrete-choice model whose coefficients reveal the relative value of each attribute, and dividing any attribute's coefficient by the cost coefficient yields its marginal willingness to pay.	Contingent Valuation (CVM), developed by Robert Davis in the 1960s, is a survey-based method for estimating the economic value of non-market environmental goods and services—such as wilderness preservation, air quality, or species protection—by directly asking people their willingness to pay (WTP) for specified improvements or willingness to accept (WTA) compensation for losses. It provides a valuation where market prices do not exist.	The contingent valuation method (CVM) is a survey-based stated-preference technique for estimating the economic value people place on goods that are not traded in markets — clean air, an endangered species, a wilderness area, the existence of a natural resource. Respondents are presented with a carefully constructed hypothetical scenario and asked how much they would be willing to pay for a described change in provision; their answers are used to estimate mean or median willingness to pay, including non-use (existence) values that no market reveals.