Hypothetical Phone and Mail Contingent Valuation Responses for Green Pricing Electricity Programs

To date, much of the policy and research debate on contingent valuation mode effects has relied on experiences drawn from other research disciplines. This study provides the first contingent valuation phone-mail comparison that meets current standards for response rates, draws from a general population, is relevant to the valuation of general environmental goods, and allows comparisons with actual sign-ups. Consistent with previous research in other disciplines, social desirability bias is found in responses to subjective questions -thus leading to more environmentally favorable responses on the phone. However, this effect does not carry over to hypothetical participation decisions. Hypothetical bias is found in both modes. Yet, application of calibration methods using debriefing questions provided nearly identical values across modes. As such, neither mode appears to dominate from the perspective of providing more valid estimates of actual participation decisions. The selection of survey mode must be based on other criteria. I The authors are indebted to Daniel Rondeau, Steven Rose, and Eleanor Smith for their contributions to various components of this research. We wish to thank the National Science Foundation, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation as sponsors of this research. Specifically, we wish to acknowledge Theresa Flaim, Janet Dougherty, Mike Kelleher, Pam Ingersoll, and Maria Ucchino at Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation. Additionally, we thank Pam Rathbun and colleagues at Hagler Bailly, Inc. Madison who also greatly contributed to this study. Funding for this research was provided by NSFIEPA Grant R 824688 under the 1995 Partnership for Environmental Research: Decision Making and Valuation for '" Environmental Policy Program. Working Paper Series in Environmental and Resource Economics WP 97-06, Department of Agricultural, Resource, and Managerial Economics, Cornell University. A Comparison of Hypothetical Phone and Mail Contingent Valuation Responses for Green Pricing Electricity Programs