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Testing for Uni-Dimensional Scaling of Stimuli Used in Preference Experiments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2023

I R Inglis
I R Inglis*
Affiliation:
Central Science Laboratory, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Worplesdon, Surrey GU3 3LQ, UK
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Abstract

Many animal preference experiments involve test stimuli that have been chosen by the experimenter to represent different strengths of a single attribute. It is assumed that the animals also scale the test stimuli along a single dimension. This paper shows how it is possible to use the ‘Unfolding Technique' developed by Coombs (1964) to check the validity of this assumption. A simple experiment is described which used Coombs' technique to verify that three visual test stimuli were ranked by laboratory rats along a single dimension. These stimuli were subsequently used in an experiment to see how different housing conditions changed rats' preferences for visual complexity.

Keywords

animal welfareexperimental designpreference experimentsscaling criterion
Type
Short Communication
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , February 1994 , pp. 45 - 49
Copyright
© 1994 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

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