Precise models deserve precise measures: A methodological dissection

The recognition heuristic (RH) — which predicts non-compensatory reliance on recognition in comparative judgments — has attracted much research and some disagreement, at times. Most studies have dealt with whether or under which conditions the RH is truly used in paired-comparisons. However, even though the RH is a precise descriptive model, there has been less attention concerning the precision of the methods applied to measure RH-use. In the current work, I provide an overview of different measures of RH-use tailored to the paradigm of natural recognition which has emerged as a preferred way of studying the RH. The measures are compared with respect to different criteria — with particular emphasis on how well they uncover true use of the RH. To this end, both simulations and a re-analysis of empirical data are presented. The results indicate that the adherence rate—which has been pervasively applied to measure RH-use—is a severely biased measure. As an alternative, a recently developed formal measurement model emerges as the recommended candidate for assessment of RH-use.