---
url: "https://questionstar.com/principles-of-survey-research/chapter-2/slide-031.html"
title: "Paired Comparison: Pros-and-Cons"
type: "lehrbuch-slide"
chapter: 2
chapterTitle: "Survey: Measurement and Scaling"
slide: 31
---

# Paired Comparison: Pros-and-Cons

*Evaluation*

+

### Pros

- Direct comparison and unambiguous choice
- Good for blind tests, product comparisons and MDS
- Allows calculating the percentage of respondents who prefer one object
- Rank order can be estimated (assuming transitivity)
- Possible extensions: "no difference" option, graded comparison

−

### Cons

- Number of comparisons grows faster than the number of objects — for *n* objects *n(n−1)/2* comparisons
- Order effects possible (influence of presentation order)
- Preferring A over B does not mean the respondent likes A
- Not very realistic for real choice situations with multiple alternatives
- Violation of the transitivity assumption possible

---

*Slide 31 of 274 · Chapter 2: Survey: Measurement and Scaling · Principles of Survey Research · Dr. Paul Marx*