Ratings-/rankings-based versus choice-based conjoint analysis for predicting choices

Nowadays, for market simulation in consumer markets with multi-attributed products, choice-based conjoint analysis (CBC) is most popular. The popularity stems-on one side-from the possibility to use online-panels for affordable data collection and-on the other side-from the possibility to estimate part worths at the respondent level using only few observations. However, a still open question is, whether this money- and time-saving approach provides the same or even better results than ratings-/rankings-based alternatives. An experiment with 787 students from Poland and Germany is used to answer this question: Cola preferences are measured using CBC as well as ratings-/rankings-based alternatives. The results are compared using the Multitrait-Multimethod Matrix for the estimated part worths and first choice hit rates for holdout choice sets. The experiment shows a superiority of CBC, but also important differences between Polish and German cola consumers that outweigh methodological differences.