The Navy Survey on Reenlistment and Quality of Service: Using Choice-Based Conjoint to Quantify Relative Preferences for Pay and Nonpay Aspects of Naval Service

The primary tasking for this project was to develop a choice-based conjoint (CBC) model of Sailors' preferences for reenlistment incentives and quality-of-service factors to learn more about how compensation-based reenlistment incentives compare with non-compensation factors in influencing reenlistment decisions. In response to this tasking, we designed the Navy Survey on Reenlistment and Quality of Service (NSRQOS), and sent it to approximately 9,000 first-term Sailors. The survey results indicate that, even with several measures of pay included in the survey, non-pay factors play a substantial role in guiding Sailors’ reenlistment intentions. The secondary tasking was to demonstrate how CBC survey data and models can be used to analyze personnel issues. Based on a review of the relevant literature, we concluded that CBC surveys are most appropriate for short-term applications in which the decisions of interest are made on the basis of competitive differences between a few well-known attributes. Therefore, the best Navy personnel applications of the CBC methodology would be analyses of proposed policies that entail well-defined trade-offs between a few characteristics. Furthermore, use of CBC results should focus on the relative effects of different characteristics; results should not focus on absolute changes in predicted reenlistment rates or program participation rates.