The Application of Choice Experiment Methodology to the Freshwater Ecosystem Services: A Review

Abstract

Evaluating ecosystem services is difficult due to the complexity of ecosystem processes and the ambiguity around the size and timing of any threshold impact associated with an ecological disturbance. The finest methods for measuring values in the context of ecological non-linearity among economic valuation methodologies are said to be stated preference (S.P) methods. This is because the stated preference approach does not use revealed preference (R.P) techniques to deduce preferences from people’s behavior in actual market settings. Thus, it seems acceptable to construct the valuation approach of interest to value several hypothetical ecological situations to demonstrate the sensitivity of the created values to each potential outcome. Due to its design specifications, which call for the creation of various choice sets with a specific number of distinct scenarios (i.e., alternatives) to be presented to respondents so they may choose their most preferred one from each option set, the choice experiment could play a significant role in this regard.