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A short choice exercise. In each task, pick the hypothetical college your family would actually enroll in. We then work backwards to estimate what is really driving the decision — your Revealed preferencesWhat your actual choices show you care about, which can differ from what you say you care about., which often differ from what we say matters.
Conjoint analysisA research method that figures out what you really value by watching the trade-offs you make between whole options, instead of just asking you to rate features one by one. is a decision-science technique for uncovering how someone actually weighs competing factors. Instead of asking “how important is cost?” — where almost everyone answers “very” — it shows you realistic colleges that force trade-offs, and infers your priorities from the choices you make.
That gap is the whole point. Your Stated preferencesWhat you say matters to you when asked directly, as opposed to what your choices reveal. are what you say matters; your Revealed preferencesWhat your actual choices show you care about, which can differ from what you say you care about. are what your choices show matters. Surfacing the difference leads to a more honest family conversation about fit.
Some tasks let you pick “neither — a gap year” when no option appeals, and a couple are quietly held back to check how well your choices predict each other. From your picks we fit a Multinomial-logit modelThe standard statistical method behind conjoint analysis: from a series of either/or choices, it works out a score for each option's features so it can explain — and predict — which one you'd pick. model that reports Attribute importanceHow much weight one factor (such as cost, location, or size) carries in your decisions compared to all the other factors. and Part-worthA score showing how much a single feature — like a lower price or a bigger campus — adds to or subtracts from how appealing a college is to you..
This is a short exercise tuned for a quick read, not a research-grade survey — see the methodology for limitations.
If these were the only options, which would you choose?
Revealed preferences are estimated from a small set of trade-offs — a directional guide for discussion, not a definitive verdict.