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There is extensive evidence that decision-makers, faced with increasing information load, may simplify their choice by reducing the amount of information to process. One simplification, commonly referred to as attribute non-attendance (ANA), is a reduction of the number of attributes of the choice alternatives. Several previous studies have identified relationships between varying information load and ANA using self-reported measures of ANA. This chapter revisits this link, motivated by recognition in the literature that such self-reported measures are vulnerable to reporting error.

This chapter employs a recently developed modelling approach that has been shown to effectively infer ANA, the random parameters attribute non-attendance (RPANA) model. The empirical setting systematically varies the information load across respondents, on a number of dimensions.

Confirming earlier findings, ANA is accentuated by an increase in the number of attribute levels, and a decrease in the number of alternatives. Additionally, specific attributes are more likely to not be attended to as the total number of attributes increases. Willingness to pay (WTP) under inferred ANA differs notably from when ANA is self-reported. Additionally accounting for varying information load, when inferring ANA, has little impact on the WTP distribution of those that do attend. However, due to varying rates of non-attendance, the overall WTP distribution varies to a large extent.

This is the first examination of the impact of varying information load on inferred ANA that is identified with the RPANA model. The value lies in the confirmation of earlier findings despite the evolution of methodologies in the interim.

This chapter reviews models of decision-making and choice under conditions of certainty. It allows readers to position the contribution of the other chapters in this book in the historical development of the topic area.

Bounded rationality is defined in terms of a strategy to simplify the decision-making process. Based on this definition, different models are reviewed. These models have assumed that individuals simplify the decision-making process by considering a subset of attributes, and/or a subset of choice alternatives and/or by disregarding small differences between attribute differences.

A body of empirical evidence has accumulated showing that under some circumstances the principle of bounded rationality better explains observed choices than the principle of utility maximization. Differences in predictive performance with utility-maximizing models are however small.

The chapter provides a detailed account of the different models, based on the principle of bounded rationality, that have been suggested over the years in travel behaviour analysis. The potential relevance of these models is articulated, model specifications are discussed and a selection of empirical evidence is presented. Aspects of an agenda of future research are identified.

Patients and health professionals often make decisions which involve a choice between discrete alternatives. This chapter reviews the econometric methods which have been developed for modelling discrete choices and their application in the health economics literature. We start by reviewing the multinomial and mixed logit models and then consider issues such as scale heterogeneity, estimation in willingness to pay space and attribute non-attendance.

The horizons ring me like faggots Tilted and disparate, and always unstable. Touched by a match, they might warm me, And their fine lines singe The air to orange (Plath, 1977).I first read Sylvia Plath’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ almost twenty years ago, when I taught it as part of a poetry anthology. I am a keen walker, and I have often repeated these lines to myself when out walking, to encourage myself over particularly difficult terrain. At times, I have wondered why Sylvia Plath, an American, had written a poem entitled ‘Wuthering Heights’. It was only this year, when I read Sylvia Plath’s Letters Home (Plath, 1999) and Elaine Feinstein’s biography (Feinstein, 2001) of Plath’s husband Ted Hughes, that I realized that Ted Hughes’ family lived near Wuthering Heights. In short, to enrich my understanding of the poem, I needed biographical detail.

It has long been recognised that humans draw from a large pool of processing aids to help manage the everyday challenges of life. It is not uncommon to observe individuals adopting simplifying strategies when faced with ever increasing amounts of information to process, and especially for decisions where the chosen outcome will have a very marginal impact on their well-being. The transactions costs associated with processing all new information often exceed the benefits from such a comprehensive review. The accumulating life experiences of individuals are also often brought to bear as reference points to assist in selectively evaluating information placed in front of them. These features of human processing and cognition are not new to the broad literature on judgment and decision-making, where heuristics are offered up as deliberative analytic procedures intentionally designed to simplify choice. What is surprising is the limited recognition of heuristics that individuals use to process the attributes in stated choice experiments. In this paper we present a case for a utility-based framework within which some appealing processing strategies are embedded (without the aid of supplementary self-stated intentions), as well as models conditioned on self-stated intentions represented as single items of process advice, and illustrate the implications on willingness to pay for travel time savings of embedding each heuristic in the choice process. Given the controversy surrounding the reliability of self-stated intentions, we introduce a framework in which mixtures of process advice embedded within a belief function might be used in future empirical studies to condition choice, as a way of increasingly judging the strength of the evidence.

Academics in the field of higher education have been studying various factors that might contribute to students’ progress and impact their grading. One such factor could be practicing academic freedom among students. The concept of academic freedom in most case is restricted to faculty alone and is often interpreted as the freedom to teach and conduct research. The neglected field in academic freedom is student. As faculty are engaged in the pedagogical approach of teaching and learning, it is obvious that students will encounter ideas and beliefs through books and wider reading as it is expected of them to do so. There comes the point when students start questioning the popular beliefs and the policies that have been imposed without making them a key stakeholder in those issues. The chapter takes one case study of an international university in Iraq where a strict attendance policy undermines the key concept of academic freedom among students. The author used a qualitative method to interview a cohort of 39 students, 10% of the entire student population that are currently engaged in undergraduate study. The sample comprised both male and female students, and no significant difference was noticed in the response of either of these sample groups.

This chapter aims to provide the recent developments on the supplementary education system in Turkey. The national examinations for advancing to higher levels of schooling are believed to fuel the demand for Supplementary Education Centers (SECs). Further, we aim to understand the distribution of the SECs and of the secondary schools across the provinces of Turkey in order to evaluate the spacial equity considerations.

The evolution of the SECs and of the secondary schools over time are described and compared. The provincial distribution of the SECs, secondary schools, and the high school age population are compared. The characteristics of these distributions are evaluated to inform about spatial equity issues. The distribution of high school age population that attend secondary schools and the distribution of the secondary school students that attend SECs across the provinces are compared.

The evidence points out to significant provincial variations in various characteristics of SECs and the secondary schools. The distribution of the SECs is more unequal than that of the secondary schools. The provinces located mostly in the east and south east of the country have lower quality SECs and secondary schools. Further, the SEC participation among the secondary school students and the secondary school participation among the relevant age group are lower in some of the provinces indicating major disadvantages.

The review of the most recent developments about the SECs, examination and comparison of provincial distributions of the SECs and of the secondary schools are novelties in this chapter.