In the Questionnaire itself you may add a question as to what is the basis of their buying decisions. Besides, during personal discussions also (with or without using an Interview Schedule) such aspects may be discussed. At higher levels, the association between various personal /psychological attributes of buyers and their rational decision-making, if any, may be studied using suitable tools like Factor analysis, SEM Modeling etc.
In my opinion it is worth to use measurable characteristics, such as the distance to the workplace, area, standard of the building. Then I compare it with no measurable factors, such as the prestige of the area. If the buildings are identical in terms of the objective factors and the purchase price are different, it shows here, subjective factor. It is worth to do such studies in fixed intervals, but you get a large database of information about such properties sold in a given year. The survey among buyers also will give similar results, the question is what data will be easier to obtain. I used the factorial analysis and regresion trees (C&RT , CHAID)- I sincerely recommend :)
Yes; as pointed out by Elzbieta Jasinska Madam, if databases are available in plenty you may use that and proceed accordingly. No harm. However, always collect some data through personal discussions with Real Estate Developers / Builders and also Real Estate agents. For this, you may use an Interview Schedule so as to make it a structured exercise. Accordingly, you will get the pulse of the market - the latest trends in the field. Similarly, some primary data also you may collect from the buyers / prospective buyers using a Questionnaire or so.
Thank you to Manoj and Elżbieta Jasińska,
I will use questionnaire to collect primary data. This research only focus to buyer and their behavior. I will try to use your suggestion. Once again thank you.
The gathering of data is the least of your worries. The first worry is to develop a hypothesis that would reveal some element of irrationality. For example, do housing markets overreact or is some element of a dynamic cobweb evidence of rational myopia? Suppose that you discover that prices do not react spatially at all to proximity to some environmental problem. Is this irrational or merely reflective of a clientele issue where there is a sufficiently large segment of the market that just doesn't care (but that doesn't mean that everyone doesn't care)? Are there seasonal effects in prices (it makes sense that there would be seasonal effects in peaches but not in houses)? I suggest that you first focus on the literature in behavioral economics and finance. Next, try to form hypotheses that seem sensible. After that, see if you can find some data that can be used to test one or another of your hypotheses.
Yes, the suggestion of Pter F Colwell Sir is quite meaningful. While doing research systematically, the logical sequence as suggested should be followed. Hence, better to spend some more time on earlier studies (Literature review), formulating a tentative (not final) hypothesis/es and then proceed towards data collection.
You can't test whether people behave rationally. As Dr. Colwell suggests you can form a hypothesis and test a confidence in irrational behavior. But what is irrational behavior in residential housing? Is it purchasing a home at a price a certain distance from the expected price? That expected price would need to be developed in a hedonic model in line with the housing and real estate literature. If it is, as some earlier respondents suggested items like distance to work place, how can you measure rationality? Perhaps a larger distance is for schools, spousal work, parental care, etc. The only objective measure of irrationality would be price based. You could use those prices outside the norm and then examine demographic characteristics, but you need a hypothesis of what irrational behavior you are testing.
As Spenser J Robinson Sir points out, the specific area should be focused (say, Price). But, here also the only way out is to go for extensive literature survey, learn what others have done and their findings; and then go for formulation of some pragmatic & realistic hypothesis/es. However, some preliminary feedback from the major stakeholders (like, real estate developers, real estate agents etc.) would help in formulating such a hypothesis/es tentatively. This can be done side by side with literature survey, it seems.
As Robinson say, the objective measure of irrationality is price. However, in this research I can not use data housing price, because we did not have those data. Can you give me another suggestion, how to measure of rationality or irrationality when buyer decide to buy a house. Do you think, may I use questionnaire which is focus on psychology bias of buyer?
Njo, sorry for the delayed response. Perhaps you should reframe your question. It appears you have access to a sample that you can reasonably survey? If so, then perhaps you are not looking for irrational behavior. Perhaps you are testing for trends or likelihoods in your market. I suggest again, form as hypothesis--one you can test with the potential data you can collect. Do most people in certain demographic choose close to schools? Is distance to work dependent on age? Your hypothesis should be literature based. Good luck!
Dear Scholar Njo Anastasia,
As suggested earlier, you have to formulate some suitable hypothesis based on some preliminary examination / pilot study; then test the same scientifically using field data / primary data. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) or SEM or similar methods may be used.
Regarding buyer decision making on purchase of Apartments in Kerala (India), our (myself, Manoj P K and my Ph.D scholar Nasar K K) field studies, done at Ernakulam in central part of Kerala State in India, have revealed that customers are rational in their decision making. Regarding the factors influencing their decisions (in the order of importance) and such other details, you may please refer our papers (Manoj P K and Nasar K K) which are freely downloadable at RG website. Or you may use the following link, https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Manoj_P_K/contributions
The opinion of Spencer J Robinson Sir appears to be quite meaningful in your case.
With regards,
Dr. MANOJ P K, FACULTY MEMBER, DEPT. OF APPLIED ECONOMICS, CUSAT, KOCHI, KERALA, INDIA - 682 022 (www.cusat.ac.in).
Dear Dr. Manoj P.K.
Thank you so much for your link to those paper. That's very helpfully.
With regards,
Anastasia
Dear Scholar Njo Anastasia,
Thanks for your message.
You may also go through papers of similar researchers like Radoslaw Trojanek Sir (working in 'Housing Economics' and allied areas like Real Estate pricing etc.). His papers are mostly on Housing in the context of Poland.
You will find his papers also quite useful. The following link may be used for using his publications, please:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Radoslaw_Trojanek2/publications
With regards,
Dr. MANOJ P K, FACULTY MEMBER, DAE, CUSAT, KOCHI, KERALA, INDIA.
(www.cusat.ac.in)
Interesting premise... Is this for research into buying and subsequently completing on house purchases? Perhaps assess the likelihood of the purchase being completed as many fall at the last hurdle.