This advanced technique, most easily administered online, forces respondents to choose between key variables or values (versus rating or ranking them in conventional survey methodologies). This approach is more realistic than asking respondents to simply rank the importance of various options without asking them to rank these options against each other. MaxDiff is also valuable for validating findings derived from the more conventional telephone survey.

• Research has shown that MaxDiff scores demonstrate greater discrimination among items and between respondents on the items. Rating scales can artificially constrain differences and thereby dampen disparities.

• The MaxDiff question is simple to understand, so respondents with a variety of educational and cultural backgrounds can provide reliable data.

• There is no opportunity for scale bias, since respondents make choices rather than expressing strength of preference using some numeric scale. This is an extremely valuable property for diverse audience research studies.