The effect of paired comparisons on triple choice sets : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Studies in Marketing at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

As consumers become aware of different brands they might purchase, it is likely they will consider those brands by making a series of paired comparisons, before finally settling on one option they prefer most. Choice theory suggests that preferences are formed early, so by influencing a consumer to prefer one option in favour of other options at the start of a choice episode, this can have a systematic effect on subsequent, and in particular final choice. Simonson, Nowlis, and Lemon (1993) assert that consumers who make paired comparisons of alternatives that vary in price and quality before selecting from a triple set of the same options are more likely to choose the cheapest option, than those who evaluate just the triple set comprised of the same options. Four experiments tested this claim but the predicted effect failed to occur. Moreover, results from one experiment had the reverse effect, the preference share of the cheapest option decreased, while the share of the more expensive options increased. This was a statistically significant result. This contra finding is in agreement with the large body of published evidence that suggests consumers, when it is possible for them to do so, prefer higher quality to lower quality options. The effect of background factors on choice was of concern, so the effect of gender, household income, and age on choice was tested. Results from these tests were inconsistent, and showed that only young males from high-income households were significantly effected by the stepwise treatment. There was concern that heterogeneity in the sampled group of respondents might have confounded the measurement of treatment effects. To help reduce the influence of background factors, all results were weighted. However, Simonson et al. did not account for heterogeneity, so it is possible their treatments have interacted with some background factor associated with the context of choice, individual difference between respondents, or the product attributes. For this reason, the claim by Simonson et al. is open to criticism. Alternative explanations for Simonson et al. (1993) findings are advanced. New research is required into the effects of paired comparisons on choice

Public Confidence in the Judiciary: Some Notes and Reflections

Persons with intellectual disability have been found to perform more poorly on tasks, demanding the use of executive functions like planning, than their peers. This study investigated difficulties with planning, and how problems with planning ability can be supported by using cognitive artifacts to help performance on activities in everyday life, for adolescents with intellectual disability. The approach taken is one of situated cognition, where the natural environment plays a big role, to see if the same difficulties arise as results from traditional research has shown. The traditional view focuses a lot on executive functions, and experimental studies in controlled settings and often suggests interventions and practice of certain functions to get better abilities. Another way is to focus on the use of cognitive artifact, to support problematic abilities, and to get a well-rounded understanding of how the problems actually appear in everyday life, the alternative view of situated cognition is a way to go. The data was gathered through interviews and surveys with the individual’s parents and analyzed through categorization and a repeated measures ANOVA, with a bonferroni corrected post hoc test. Results show several problematic areas, and that there is a difference in how problematic these areas are estimated to be when it comes to planning in everyday situations. It is discussed how the natural contexts helps knowing what planning really means for the group, as well as how it can help finding properties in cognitive artifacts that can help raise the level of independence in planning related tasks

A low-power geometric mapping co-processor for high-speed graphics application

In this article we present a novel design of a low-power geometric mapping co-processor that can be used for high-performance graphics system. The processor can carry out any single or a combination of transformations belonging to affine transformation family ranging from 1-D to 3-D. It allows interactive operations which can be defined either by a user (allowing it to be a stand-alone geometric transformation processor) or by a host processor (allowing it to be a co-processor to accelerate certain graphics operations). It occupies a silicon area of 6 mm2 and consumes 40 mW power when synthesized with 0.25?m technology

School use of learning platforms and associated technologies – case study: secondary school 2

Study of benefits and effective use of learning platforms in schools based on 12 case studie