An Integrated Model of Discrete Choice and Response Time

Abstract

Computer and Web-based interviewing tools have made response times ubiquitous in marketing research. Practitioners use these data as an indicator of data quality, and academics use them as an indicator of latent processes related to memory, attributes, and decision making. The authors investigate a Poisson race model with choice and response times as dependent variables. The model facilitates inference about respondents' preferences for choice alternatives, their diligence in providing responses, and the accessibility of attitudes and the speed of thinking. Thus, the model distinguishes between respondents who are quick to think and those who are quick to react but do so without much thought. Empirically, the authors find support for the endogenous nature of response times and demonstrate that models that treat response times as exogenous variables may result in misleading inferences.