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The TRANSREG Procedure

Example 65.3: Metric Conjoint Analysis of Tire Data

This example, which is more detailed than the previous one, uses PROC TRANSREG to perform a metric conjoint analysis of tire preference data. Conjoint analysis can be used to decompose preference ratings of products or services into components based on qualitative product attributes. For each level of each attribute of interest, a numerical "part-worth utility" value is computed. The sum of the part-worth utilities for each product is an estimate of the utility for that product. The goal is to compute part-worth utilities such that the product utilities are as similar as possible to the original ratings. Metric conjoint analysis, as shown in this example, fits an ordinary linear model directly to data assumed to be measured on an interval scale. Nonmetric conjoint analysis, as shown in Example 65.2, finds an optimal monotonic transformation of original data before fitting an ordinary linear model to the transformed data.

This example has three parts. In the first part, an experimental design is created. In the second part, a DATA step creates descriptions of the stimuli for the experiment. The third part of the example performs the conjoint analyses.

The stimuli for the experiment are 18 hypothetical tires. The stimuli represent different brands (Goodstone, Pirogi, Machismo)*, prices ($69.99, $74.99, $79.99), expected tread life (50,000, 60,000, 70,000), and road hazard insurance plans (Yes, No).

For a conjoint study such as this, you need to create an experimental design with 3 three-level factors, 1 two-level factor, and 18 combinations or runs. While it is easy to get a design for this situation from ADX software or a table, you can also use the more general approach of using the OPTEX procedure to find an efficient design. First, the PLAN procedure is used to construct a full-factorial design consisting of all possible combinations of the factors. Then, PROC OPTEX is used to find an efficient design for a main-effects model.

The FACTORS statement in PROC PLAN specifies each of the factors and the number of levels. The full-factorial design is output to the data set Candidates, and no displayed output is produced from PROC PLAN. The OPTEX procedure searches the Candidates data set for an efficient experimental design. The option CODING=ORTHCAN specifies an orthogonal coding of the internal design matrix. All factors are designated as CLASS variables, and a main-effects model (no interactions) is specified. The GENERATE statement requests a design with N=18 products using the Modified Federov algorithm. For most conjoint studies, this is the best algorithm to use. The best experimental design is output to a SAS data set called sasuser.TireDesign. For this study, PROC OPTEX has no trouble finding a perfect, 100% efficient experimental design because a standard, balanced, and orthogonal design exists for this problem. (It is frequently the case in practice that 100% efficiency is unobtainable.) Specifying random number seeds on the design procedures, while not strictly necessary, helps ensure that the design is reproducible. However, in examples like this in which PROC OPTEX finds many designs, all tied with the same efficiency, different but equivalent designs are sometimes output. When this happens, you get different results from those shown. The experimental design is displayed, and the SUMMARY procedure is used to examine one-way and two-way frequencies for all of the factors. All frequencies within each crosstabulation are constant, which is consistent with the 100% efficiency reported by PROC OPTEX. Finally, the tires are sorted into a random order and stored into a permanant SAS data set. In the interest of space, only the final design is shown. (The output from PROC OPTEX and PROC SUMMARY is not displayed.)

   title 'Tire Study, Experimental Design';

   proc format;
      value BrandF
                 1 = 'Goodstone'
                 2 = 'Pirogi   '
                 3 = 'Machismo ';
      value PriceF
                 1 = '$69.99'
                 2 = '$74.99'
                 3 = '$79.99';
      value LifeF
                 1 = '50,000'
                 2 = '60,000'
                 3 = '70,000';
      value HazardF
                 1 = 'Yes'
                 2 = 'No ';
   run;

   proc plan seed=070787;
      factors Brand=3 Price=3 Life=3 Hazard=2 / noprint;
      output out=Candidates;
   run;

   proc optex data=Candidates coding=orthcan seed=080489;
      class Brand Price Life Hazard;
      model Brand Price Life Hazard;
      generate n=18 method=m_federov;
      output out=TireDesign;
      format Brand BrandF9. Price PriceF9. Life LifeF6. Hazard HazardF3.;
   run;

   proc sort;
      by Brand Price Life Hazard;
   run;

   proc print;
   run;

   proc summary print;
      class Brand -- Hazard;
      ways 1 2;
   run;

   data TireDesign2; /* Randomize the order of the tires */
      set TireDesign;
      r = uniform(7);
   run;

   proc sort out=sasuser.TireDesign(drop=r);
      by r;
   run;

Output 65.3.1: Tire Study, Experimental Design

Tire Study, Experimental Design

Obs Brand Price Life Hazard
1 Goodstone $69.99 50,000 No
2 Goodstone $69.99 50,000 No
3 Goodstone $74.99 60,000 Yes
4 Goodstone $74.99 60,000 Yes
5 Goodstone $79.99 70,000 Yes
6 Goodstone $79.99 70,000 No
7 Pirogi $69.99 60,000 Yes
8 Pirogi $69.99 60,000 No
9 Pirogi $74.99 70,000 No
10 Pirogi $74.99 70,000 No
11 Pirogi $79.99 50,000 Yes
12 Pirogi $79.99 50,000 Yes
13 Machismo $69.99 70,000 Yes
14 Machismo $69.99 70,000 Yes
15 Machismo $74.99 50,000 Yes
16 Machismo $74.99 50,000 No
17 Machismo $79.99 60,000 No
18 Machismo $79.99 60,000 No

Next, the questionnaires are printed, and subjects are given the questionnaires and are asked to rate the tires.

The following statements produce Output 65.3.2. This output is abbreviated; the statements produce stimuli for all combinations.

   data _null_;
      title;
      set sasuser.TireDesign;
      file print;
      if mod(_n_,4) eq 1 then do;
         put _page_;
         put +55 'Subject ________';
         end;
      length hazardstring $ 7.;
      if put(hazard, hazardf3.) = 'Yes'
         then hazardstring = 'with';
         else hazardstring = 'without';

      s = 3 + (_n_ >= 10);
      put // _n_ +(-1) ') For your next tire purchase, '
             'how likely are you to buy this product?'
          // +s Brand 'brand tires at ' Price +(-1) ','
          /  +s 'with a ' Life 'tread life guarantee, '
          /  +s 'and ' hazardstring 'road hazard insurance.'
          // +s 'Definitely Would                 Definitely Would'
          /  +s 'Not Purchase                             Purchase'
          // +s '1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9 ';
   run;

Output 65.3.2: Conjoint Analysis, Stimuli Descriptions

                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                       Subject ________         
1) For your next tire purchase, how likely are you to buy this product?         
   Machismo brand tires at $74.99,                                              
   with a 50,000 tread life guarantee,                                          
   and without road hazard insurance.                                           
   Definitely Would                 Definitely Would                            
   Not Purchase                             Purchase                            
   1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9                            
2) For your next tire purchase, how likely are you to buy this product?         
   Goodstone brand tires at $69.99,                                             
   with a 50,000 tread life guarantee,                                          
   and without road hazard insurance.                                           
   Definitely Would                 Definitely Would                            
   Not Purchase                             Purchase                            
   1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9                            
3) For your next tire purchase, how likely are you to buy this product?         
   Pirogi brand tires at $74.99,                                                
   with a 70,000 tread life guarantee,                                          
   and without road hazard insurance.                                           
   Definitely Would                 Definitely Would                            
   Not Purchase                             Purchase                            
   1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9                            
4) For your next tire purchase, how likely are you to buy this product?         
   Goodstone brand tires at $79.99,                                             
   with a 70,000 tread life guarantee,                                          
   and with road hazard insurance.                                              
   Definitely Would                 Definitely Would                            
   Not Purchase                             Purchase                            
   1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9                            


The third part of the example performs the conjoint analyses. The DATA step reads the data. Only the ratings are entered, one row per subject. Real conjoint studies have many more subjects than five. The TRANSPOSE procedure transposes this (5 ×18) data set into an (18 ×5) data set that can be merged with the factor level data set sasuser.TireDesign. The next DATA step does the merge. The PRINT procedure displays the input data set.

PROC TRANSREG fits the five individual conjoint models, one for each subject. The UTILITIES a-option displays the conjoint analysis results. The SHORT a-option suppresses the iteration histories, OUTTEST=Utils creates an output data set with all of the conjoint results, and the SEPARATORS= option requests that the labels constructed for each category contain two blanks between the variable name and the level value. The ODS select statement is used to limit the displayed output. The MODEL statement specifies IDENTITY for the ratings, which specifies a metric conjoint analysis -the ratings are not transformed. The variables Brand, Price, Life, and Hazard are designated as CLASS variables, and the part-worth utilities are constrained to sum to zero within each factor.

The following statements produce Output 65.3.3:

   title 'Tire Study, Data Entry, Preprocessing';

   data Results;
      input (c1-c18) (1.);
      datalines;
   366479338236695228
   583448157149666228
   127799316264575448
   335869145193567449
   366379238246685229
   ;

   *---Create an Object by Subject Data Matrix---;
   proc transpose data=Results out=Results(drop=_name_) prefix=Subj;
   run;

   *---Merge the Factor Levels With the Data Matrix---;
   data Both;
      merge sasuser.TireDesign Results;
   run;

   *---Print Input Data Set---;
   proc print;
      title2 'Data Set for Conjoint Analysis';
   run;

   *---Fit Each Subject Individually---;
   proc transreg data=Both utilities short outtest=Utils separators='  ';
      ods select FitStatistics Utilities;
      title2 'Individual Conjoint Analyses';
      model identity(Subj1-Subj5) =
            class(Brand Price Life Hazard / zero=sum);
   run;

The output contains two tables per subject, one with overall fit statistics and one with the conjoint analysis results.

Output 65.3.3: Conjoint Analysis

Tire Study, Data Entry, Preprocessing
Data Set for Conjoint Analysis

Obs Brand Price Life Hazard Subj1 Subj2 Subj3 Subj4 Subj5
1 Machismo $74.99 50,000 No 3 5 1 3 3
2 Goodstone $69.99 50,000 No 6 8 2 3 6
3 Pirogi $74.99 70,000 No 6 3 7 5 6
4 Goodstone $79.99 70,000 Yes 4 4 7 8 3
5 Pirogi $74.99 70,000 No 7 4 9 6 7
6 Machismo $69.99 70,000 Yes 9 8 9 9 9
7 Pirogi $79.99 50,000 Yes 3 1 3 1 2
8 Machismo $74.99 50,000 Yes 3 5 1 4 3
9 Pirogi $69.99 60,000 No 8 7 6 5 8
10 Pirogi $79.99 50,000 Yes 2 1 2 1 2
11 Goodstone $79.99 70,000 No 3 4 6 9 4
12 Goodstone $69.99 50,000 No 6 9 4 3 6
13 Goodstone $74.99 60,000 Yes 6 6 5 5 6
14 Pirogi $69.99 60,000 Yes 9 6 7 6 8
15 Goodstone $74.99 60,000 Yes 5 6 5 7 5
16 Machismo $79.99 60,000 No 2 2 4 4 2
17 Machismo $79.99 60,000 No 2 2 4 4 2
18 Machismo $69.99 70,000 Yes 8 8 8 9 9


Tire Study, Data Entry, Preprocessing
Individual Conjoint Analyses

The TRANSREG Procedure

The TRANSREG Procedure Hypothesis Tests for Identity(Subj1)

Root MSE 0.49441 R-Square 0.9760
Dependent Mean 5.11111 Adj R-Sq 0.9592
Coeff Var 9.67330    

Utilities Table Based on the Usual Degrees of Freedom
Label Utility Standard Error Importance
(% Utility
Range)
Variable
Intercept 5.1111 0.11653   Intercept
Brand Goodstone -0.1111 0.16480 14.286 Class.BrandGoodstone
Brand Pirogi 0.7222 0.16480   Class.BrandPirogi
Brand Machismo -0.6111 0.16480   Class.BrandMachismo
Price $69.99 2.5556 0.16480 53.571 Class.Price_69_99
Price $74.99 -0.1111 0.16480   Class.Price_74_99
Price $79.99 -2.4444 0.16480   Class.Price_79_99
Life 50,000 -1.2778 0.16480 25.000 Class.Life50_000
Life 60,000 0.2222 0.16480   Class.Life60_000
Life 70,000 1.0556 0.16480   Class.Life70_000
Hazard Yes 0.3333 0.11653 7.143 Class.HazardYes
Hazard No -0.3333 0.11653   Class.HazardNo

 


Tire Study, Data Entry, Preprocessing
Individual Conjoint Analyses

The TRANSREG Procedure

The TRANSREG Procedure Hypothesis Tests for Identity(Subj2)

Root MSE 0.47140 R-Square 0.9792
Dependent Mean 4.94444 Adj R-Sq 0.9647
Coeff Var 9.53402    

Utilities Table Based on the Usual Degrees of Freedom
Label Utility Standard Error Importance
(% Utility
Range)
Variable
Intercept 4.9444 0.11111   Intercept
Brand Goodstone 1.2222 0.15713 30.201 Class.BrandGoodstone
Brand Pirogi -1.2778 0.15713   Class.BrandPirogi
Brand Machismo 0.0556 0.15713   Class.BrandMachismo
Price $69.99 2.7222 0.15713 64.430 Class.Price_69_99
Price $74.99 -0.1111 0.15713   Class.Price_74_99
Price $79.99 -2.6111 0.15713   Class.Price_79_99
Life 50,000 -0.1111 0.15713 4.027 Class.Life50_000
Life 60,000 -0.1111 0.15713   Class.Life60_000
Life 70,000 0.2222 0.15713   Class.Life70_000
Hazard Yes 0.0556 0.11111 1.342 Class.HazardYes
Hazard No -0.0556 0.11111   Class.HazardNo

 


Tire Study, Data Entry, Preprocessing
Individual Conjoint Analyses

The TRANSREG Procedure

The TRANSREG Procedure Hypothesis Tests for Identity(Subj3)

Root MSE 0.80277 R-Square 0.9425
Dependent Mean 5.00000 Adj R-Sq 0.9022
Coeff Var 16.05546    

Utilities Table Based on the Usual Degrees of Freedom
Label Utility Standard Error Importance
(% Utility
Range)
Variable
Intercept 5.0000 0.18922   Intercept
Brand Goodstone -0.1667 0.26759 13.291 Class.BrandGoodstone
Brand Pirogi 0.6667 0.26759   Class.BrandPirogi
Brand Machismo -0.5000 0.26759   Class.BrandMachismo
Price $69.99 1.0000 0.26759 18.987 Class.Price_69_99
Price $74.99 -0.3333 0.26759   Class.Price_74_99
Price $79.99 -0.6667 0.26759   Class.Price_79_99
Life 50,000 -2.8333 0.26759 62.658 Class.Life50_000
Life 60,000 0.1667 0.26759   Class.Life60_000
Life 70,000 2.6667 0.26759   Class.Life70_000
Hazard Yes 0.2222 0.18922 5.063 Class.HazardYes
Hazard No -0.2222 0.18922   Class.HazardNo

 


Tire Study, Data Entry, Preprocessing
Individual Conjoint Analyses

The TRANSREG Procedure

The TRANSREG Procedure Hypothesis Tests for Identity(Subj4)

Root MSE 0.96032 R-Square 0.9160
Dependent Mean 5.11111 Adj R-Sq 0.8572
Coeff Var 18.78895    

Utilities Table Based on the Usual Degrees of Freedom
Label Utility Standard Error Importance
(% Utility
Range)
Variable
Intercept 5.1111 0.22635   Intercept
Brand Goodstone 0.7222 0.32011 19.880 Class.BrandGoodstone
Brand Pirogi -1.1111 0.32011   Class.BrandPirogi
Brand Machismo 0.3889 0.32011   Class.BrandMachismo
Price $69.99 0.7222 0.32011 14.458 Class.Price_69_99
Price $74.99 -0.1111 0.32011   Class.Price_74_99
Price $79.99 -0.6111 0.32011   Class.Price_79_99
Life 50,000 -2.6111 0.32011 56.024 Class.Life50_000
Life 60,000 0.0556 0.32011   Class.Life60_000
Life 70,000 2.5556 0.32011   Class.Life70_000
Hazard Yes 0.4444 0.22635 9.639 Class.HazardYes
Hazard No -0.4444 0.22635   Class.HazardNo

 


Tire Study, Data Entry, Preprocessing
Individual Conjoint Analyses

The TRANSREG Procedure

The TRANSREG Procedure Hypothesis Tests for Identity(Subj5)

Root MSE 0.52705 R-Square 0.9740
Dependent Mean 5.05556 Adj R-Sq 0.9558
Coeff Var 10.42509    

Utilities Table Based on the Usual Degrees of Freedom
Label Utility Standard Error Importance
(% Utility
Range)
Variable
Intercept 5.0556 0.12423   Intercept
Brand Goodstone -0.0556 0.17568 9.259 Class.BrandGoodstone
Brand Pirogi 0.4444 0.17568   Class.BrandPirogi
Brand Machismo -0.3889 0.17568   Class.BrandMachismo
Price $69.99 2.6111 0.17568 57.407 Class.Price_69_99
Price $74.99 -0.0556 0.17568   Class.Price_74_99
Price $79.99 -2.5556 0.17568   Class.Price_79_99
Life 50,000 -1.3889 0.17568 29.630 Class.Life50_000
Life 60,000 0.1111 0.17568   Class.Life60_000
Life 70,000 1.2778 0.17568   Class.Life70_000
Hazard Yes 0.1667 0.12423 3.704 Class.HazardYes
Hazard No -0.1667 0.12423   Class.HazardNo


These following statements summarize the results. Three tables are displayed: all of the importance values, the average importance, and the part-worth utilities. The first DATA step selects the importance information from the Utils data set. The final assignment statement stores just the variable name from the label relying on the fact that the separator is two blanks. PROC TRANSPOSE creates the data set of importances, one row per subject, and PROC PRINT displays the results. The MEANS procedure displays the average importance of each attribute across the subjects. The next DATA step selects the part-worth utilities information from the Utils data set. PROC TRANSPOSE creates the data set of utilities, one row per subject, and PROC PRINT displays the results.

   *---Gather the Importance Values---;
   data Importance;
      set Utils(keep=_depvar_ Importance Label);
      if n(Importance);
      label = substr(label, 1, index(label, '  '));
   run;

   proc transpose out=Importance2(drop=_:);
      by _depvar_;
      id Label;
   run;

   proc print;
      title2 'Importance Values';
   run;

   proc means;
      title2 'Average Importance';
   run;

   *---Gather the Part-Worth Utilites---;
   data Utilities;
      set Utils(keep=_depvar_ Coefficient Label);
      if n(Coefficient);
   run;

   proc transpose out=Utilities2(drop=_:);
      by _depvar_;
      id Label;
      idlabel Label;
   run;

   proc print label;
      title2 'Utilities';
   run;

Output 65.3.4: Summary of Conjoint Analysis Results

Tire Study, Data Entry, Preprocessing
Importance Values

Obs Brand Price Life Hazard
1 14.2857 53.5714 25.0000 7.14286
2 30.2013 64.4295 4.0268 1.34228
3 13.2911 18.9873 62.6582 5.06329
4 19.8795 14.4578 56.0241 9.63855
5 9.2593 57.4074 29.6296 3.70370


Tire Study, Data Entry, Preprocessing
Average Importance

The MEANS Procedure

Variable N Mean Std Dev Minimum Maximum
Brand
Price
Life
Hazard
5
5
5
5
17.3833946
41.7707079
35.4677599
5.3781376
8.1066973
23.2500570
23.9482430
3.1802662
9.2592593
14.4578313
4.0268456
1.3422819
30.2013423
64.4295302
62.6582278
9.6385542


Tire Study, Data Entry, Preprocessing
Utilities

Obs Intercept Brand Goodstone Brand Pirogi Brand Machismo Price $69.99 Price $74.99 Price $79.99 Life 50,000 Life 60,000 Life 70,000 Hazard Yes Hazard No
1 5.11111 -0.11111 0.72222 -0.61111 2.55556 -0.11111 -2.44444 -1.27778 0.22222 1.05556 0.33333 -0.33333
2 4.94444 1.22222 -1.27778 0.05556 2.72222 -0.11111 -2.61111 -0.11111 -0.11111 0.22222 0.05556 -0.05556
3 5.00000 -0.16667 0.66667 -0.50000 1.00000 -0.33333 -0.66667 -2.83333 0.16667 2.66667 0.22222 -0.22222
4 5.11111 0.72222 -1.11111 0.38889 0.72222 -0.11111 -0.61111 -2.61111 0.05556 2.55556 0.44444 -0.44444
5 5.05556 -0.05556 0.44444 -0.38889 2.61111 -0.05556 -2.55556 -1.38889 0.11111 1.27778 0.16667 -0.16667


Based on the importance values, price is the most important attribute for some of the respondents, but expected tread life is most important for others. On the average, price is most important followed closely by expected tread life. Brand and road hazard insurance are less important. Both Goodstone and Pirogi are the most preferred brands by some of the respondents. All respondents preferred a lower price over a higher price, a longer tread life, and road hazard insurance.

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