MaxDiff

MaxDiff (sometimes referred to as best-worst scaling) consists of a single question that is looped a number of times depending on the number of attributes you are analyzing. Here's an example of the MaxDiff question:

The respondent chooses one attribute as Most important and another as Least important then they are asked the same question again but with a different set of criteria.

Setup

To set up a MaxDiff loop create the list of attributes in your survey and then send your design file (see below) to your IncQuery Survey Directors. They will set up the MaxDiff loop based on these criteria.

Design File

The design file is a critical element of setting up a MaxDiff loop. This file describes how the criteria are grouped in the MaxDiff loops. This file is typically created by a statistician as the grouping and number of times each attribute appears in the loop is important to the successful analysis of the data. If you do not have resources available to create a design file in your organization consult your IncQuery team for assistance.

Common Pitfall

MaxDiff analysis provides a robust ranking of criteria that is often better than typical ranking or scale questions, but the pitfall from MaxDiff is the possibility of Survey fatigue. If you have a large number of criteria the MaxDiff loop will need to be run many times in order to get a proper data set. This looping on the same question can fatigue the respondent leading to low data quality.