Factorial vignette experiments

Experimental vignettes — short, structured scenarios in which several attributes are systematically varied across respondents — are a workhorse method in sociology, public health, social policy, environmental economics and management research. Vignette experiments combine the realism of a survey with the causal-inference power of a factorial experiment: by randomly assigning attribute levels to scenarios, the researcher can identify the marginal effect of each attribute on the respondent's evaluation.

tickStat implements vignettes as a configuration mode of the Choice question infrastructure, reusing the same experimental design machinery (full and fractional factorial designs, balanced randomisation across respondents, blocking) that underlies the Discrete Choice Experiment module — but presents each scenario in single-card rating form rather than as a forced choice between alternatives.

When to use it

  • You want to estimate how respondents value a set of attributes that combine in a scenario (a job offer, a policy package, a conservation programme, a clinical-care pathway).
  • You want a more naturalistic stimulus than a pure choice card — vignettes can include narrative prose, images and contextual framing.
  • You want a Likert-type or continuous rating outcome rather than a binary choice.

How it works in tickStat

Configuration is similar to a discrete choice experiment with a single alternative:

  • Define attributes (the dimensions varied across vignettes) and their levels.
  • Generate the experimental design (full factorial, fractional factorial, or upload your own design matrix).
  • Choose the visualisation method: slider (continuous rating from 0 to 100) or button (Likert-style discrete scale).
  • Use the standard scenario template — placeholders are filled with the assigned levels for each respondent.

Each respondent sees a sequence of vignettes drawn from the design, with attribute-level combinations randomised so that the design is balanced across the sample.

To enable vignette mode in the question configuration, activate the "Visualisation Slider Vignettes" checkbox and set the "Generation method design" field to "Vignettes".

Captured data and analysis

For each vignette shown to each respondent, tickStat records the full vector of attribute levels and the rating given. The data exports cleanly into a long-format dataset suitable for:

  • Linear, logistic or ordinal multilevel regression with attribute dummies as predictors and respondents as a random effect (the standard analysis for factorial vignette studies).
  • Conjoint-style attribute-importance decompositions.
  • Heterogeneous treatment effects via interactions between attribute levels and respondent characteristics.