What a Choice-Based Conjoint Experimental Design Looks Like – The Data Story Guide

As discussed in Overview of Choice-Based Conjoint, the questions in a choice-based conjoint study are derived from an experimental design.

The table below shows the first few rows of an experimental design, where:

Each choice question contains three alternatives (i.e., hypothetical products), and thus the first three rows of the table describe the first choice question (shown below the experimental design).
Each version of the questionnaire contains questions. All the questions in the first version, and the beginning of the second version, are described below.
In the table below the wording of the attribute levels are shown. It is common to instead show just numbers (e.g., rather than show Hershey, Lindt, and Dove in the first three rows, instead show 1, 4, and 2, where each of these numbers represents the levels of the Brand).

Version	Task	Question	Alternative	Brand	Price	Cocoa strength	Sugar	Origin	Nuts	Ethical
1	1	1	1	Hershey	$0.99	Milk	Standard	USA	No	BLANK
1	1	1	2	Lindt	$2.49	Dark	50% reduced sugar	Belgium	Hazelnuts	Fair trade
1	1	1	3	Dove	$1.49	70%	Sugar free	Belgian (Single origin Venezuelan Criollo beans)	Almonds	Fair trade
1	2	2	1	Godiva	$1.99	White	Sugar free	Switzerland	Hazelnuts	BLANK
1	2	2	2	Hershey	$1.99	Milk	50% reduced sugar	Switzerland	Almonds	Fair trade
1	2	2	3	Lindt	$1.49	70%	Standard	Belgium	No	BLANK
1	3	3	1	Dove	$2.49	White	50% reduced sugar	USA	Almonds	BLANK
1	3	3	2	Godiva	$0.99	Dark	Standard	Belgian (Single origin Venezuelan Criollo beans)	No	Fair trade
1	3	3	3	Lindt	$1.49	Milk	Sugar free	USA	Hazelnuts	Fair trade
1	4	4	1	Hershey	$0.99	70%	50% reduced sugar	Belgian (Single origin Venezuelan Criollo beans)	Hazelnuts	BLANK
1	4	4	2	Hershey	$2.49	White	Sugar free	Belgium	No	Fair trade
1	4	4	3	Dove	$1.99	Dark	Standard	Belgium	Almonds	BLANK
1	5	5	1	Godiva	$2.49	70%	Standard	Switzerland	Hazelnuts	Fair trade
1	5	5	2	Lindt	$0.99	Dark	Sugar free	Switzerland	Almonds	BLANK
1	5	5	3	Godiva	$1.49	Milk	50% reduced sugar	Belgian (Single origin Venezuelan Criollo beans)	No	BLANK
1	6	6	1	Dove	$1.99	White	50% reduced sugar	USA	No	Fair trade
1	6	6	2	Lindt	$0.99	White	Standard	Belgian (Single origin Venezuelan Criollo beans)	Almonds	Fair trade
1	6	6	3	Dove	$2.49	Milk	Sugar free	Belgian (Single origin Venezuelan Criollo beans)	Hazelnuts	BLANK
1	7	7	1	Hershey	$1.49	Dark	Standard	USA	Hazelnuts	BLANK
1	7	7	2	Godiva	$1.99	70%	Sugar free	USA	Almonds	Fair trade
1	7	7	3	Dove	$1.49	Dark	50% reduced sugar	Switzerland	No	Fair trade
1	8	8	1	Godiva	$0.99	Milk	50% reduced sugar	Belgium	Almonds	BLANK
1	8	8	2	Lindt	$2.49	70%	Sugar free	Switzerland	No	BLANK
1	8	8	3	Hershey	$1.99	White	Standard	Belgium	Hazelnuts	Fair trade
1	9	9	1	Dove	$0.99	Milk	Standard	Switzerland	Hazelnuts	Fair trade
1	9	9	2	Hershey	$1.99	Dark	Sugar free	Belgian (Single origin Venezuelan Criollo beans)	No	BLANK
1	9	9	3	Godiva	$1.49	White	Standard	Switzerland	Almonds	BLANK
1	10	10	1	Lindt	$2.49	70%	50% reduced sugar	USA	Almonds	Fair trade
1	10	10	2	Dove	$0.99	70%	Sugar free	Belgium	Hazelnuts	BLANK
1	10	10	3	Lindt	$1.99	White	50% reduced sugar	Belgian (Single origin Venezuelan Criollo beans)	Hazelnuts	BLANK
2	11	1	1	Godiva	$1.49	Milk	Sugar free	Belgium	No	Fair trade
2	11	1	2	Hershey	$2.49	Dark	Standard	USA	Almonds	Fair trade
2	11	1	3	Lindt	$1.99	Milk	Standard	USA	No	BLANK
2	12	2	1	Hershey	$0.99	70%	50% reduced sugar	Switzerland	No	Fair trade

Often the experimental design is shown as a table of numbers, where the numbers refer to the attribute levels:

The questions are then constructed from the design:

Related articles