Delaware Chapter, ASA Dinner Meeting: December 2006 Notice: Our meetings are located at the Blue and Gold Club Tavern on the University of Delaware campus. Speaker: Dr. Jennifer L. Golek Consulting Statistician DuPont Engineering Technology   Title: Design Strategies for Marketing Experiments (Conjoint Anlaysis) Abstract: Marketing managers are faced with numerous activities to assess future profitability, sales, market share for new products, changes to existing products and marketing strategies. Valuable information for these efforts can often be obtained by reviewing databases of historical information, but often there are problems with the answers realized from these sources due to confounding, lack of variation, etc. Conjoint analysis allows us to use hypothetical experimentation with consumers to answer the questions that historical data cannot. We begin by providing a review of the history and development of the field of stated preference experiments (conjoint analysis). Several examples from the marketing literature will be reviewed to illustrate the potential complexity associated with conjoint experiments. The use of different strategies for the construction of optimal choice experiments and their impact on the overall efficiency of the resulting design are explored. We then evaluate how these choice designs meet the desired characteristics of optimal choice designs (orthogonality, level balance, utility balance and minimum level overlap). We further study the impact of misspecification of the assumed parameter values used in creation of optimal choice designs, and find that the impact of misspecification varies widely based on the discrepancy between the true and assumed parameter values. Current design and analysis strategies for stated preference experiments assume that compensatory decisions are made. We consider how different decision strategies may be represented through manipulating the assumed parameter values used in creating the choice design. In this context, the consequences of misspecification of the decision strategy are also evaluated. We conclude by suggesting a comprehensive strategy that should be followed in the creation of choice designs. Date: Thursday, December 21, 2006   Time: Social hour -- 6:00 pm Dinner -- 6:30 pm Speaker -- 7:15 pm   Place: Blue and Gold Club Tavern University of Delaware   Directions/Map   Menu: Entree: Buffet Cost: $25 for members, $15 for students   Reservations:  Bruce Stanley by Wednesday, December 20, 2006. Phone: 302-366-5910 Email: Bruce Stanley.   Please note: Be sure to RSVP by this date.   Return to Delaware Chapter ASA home page.