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PAIRCOMP

The PAIRCOMP program administers the paired comparison experiment on a personal computer that presents the pairs of items on the monitor in a unique random order to control for order effects. The items appear side-by-side on the monitor, with their position (right versus left) also randomized. The respondent enters a choice by pressing the right or left arrow key and can correct a mistake by pressing the backspace key and then selecting the other item. At the end of the paired comparisons, the program repeats in random order those pairs for which the individual's choice was not consistent with the dominant preference order as defined by the preference scores. The program also randomly selects ten consistent pairs for retesting. The individual pairs in these two sets of repeated choices are randomly intermixed, and there is nothing to indicate to the respondent when the original pairs end and the repeats begin. The program also records the time taken to enter each choice.

Additional information about the use of paired comparisons, plus publications of studies that used PAIRCOMP is also available on this website.

System Requirements

PAIRCOMP runs on a personal computer with Microsoft Windows 95/NT.

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U.S. Department of Agriculture
Forest Service
Rocky Mountain Research Station