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Main Authors: Wang, Steven, Johnson, Isys, Grogan, Jessica, Jain, Lalit, Rudra, Atri, Hunt, Kyle, Joseph, Kenneth
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.02123
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author Wang, Steven
Johnson, Isys
Grogan, Jessica
Jain, Lalit
Rudra, Atri
Hunt, Kyle
Joseph, Kenneth
author_facet Wang, Steven
Johnson, Isys
Grogan, Jessica
Jain, Lalit
Rudra, Atri
Hunt, Kyle
Joseph, Kenneth
contents Conjoint experiments have become central to survey research in political science and related fields because they allow researchers to study preferences across multiple attributes simultaneously. Beyond estimating main effects, scholars increasingly analyze heterogeneity through subgroup analysis and contextual variables, raising methodological challenges in detecting and interpreting interaction effects. Statistical power constraints, common in survey experiments, further complicate this task. This paper addresses the question: how can both main and interaction effects be reliably inferred in conjoint studies? We contribute in two ways. First, we conduct a systematic evaluation of leading approaches, including post-hoc corrections, sparse regression methods, and Bayesian models, across simulation regimes that vary sparsity, noise, and data availability. Second, we propose a novel black-box inference framework that leverages machine learning to recover main and interaction effects in conjoint experiments. Our approach balances computational efficiency with accuracy, providing a practical tool for researchers studying heterogeneous effects.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_02123
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Identifying Subgroup and Context Effects in Conjoint Experiments
Wang, Steven
Johnson, Isys
Grogan, Jessica
Jain, Lalit
Rudra, Atri
Hunt, Kyle
Joseph, Kenneth
Methodology
Conjoint experiments have become central to survey research in political science and related fields because they allow researchers to study preferences across multiple attributes simultaneously. Beyond estimating main effects, scholars increasingly analyze heterogeneity through subgroup analysis and contextual variables, raising methodological challenges in detecting and interpreting interaction effects. Statistical power constraints, common in survey experiments, further complicate this task. This paper addresses the question: how can both main and interaction effects be reliably inferred in conjoint studies? We contribute in two ways. First, we conduct a systematic evaluation of leading approaches, including post-hoc corrections, sparse regression methods, and Bayesian models, across simulation regimes that vary sparsity, noise, and data availability. Second, we propose a novel black-box inference framework that leverages machine learning to recover main and interaction effects in conjoint experiments. Our approach balances computational efficiency with accuracy, providing a practical tool for researchers studying heterogeneous effects.
title Identifying Subgroup and Context Effects in Conjoint Experiments
topic Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.02123