On the statistical analysis of multiple-choice feeding preference experiments

A stopping rule for an experiment defines when (under what conditions) the experiment is terminated. I investigated the stopping rules used in numerous multiple-choice feeding-preference experiments and also examined a recently proposed method for analyzing the data arising from such experiments. All of the surveyed experiments imposed stopping rules which result in a random total food consumption. If an acceptable quantification of preference is relative consumption of different food types, then the proposed analysis will likely misstate the information about preference conveyed by the data. This is due to the fact that the method may confound differences in preferences among food types with differences in the total consumption across trials. I discuss this issue in detail and present an alternative procedure which is appropriate under all stopping regimes when preference is quantified through relative consumption. The procedure I suggest uses an index which is a multivariate generalization of the preference index suggested by Kogan and Goeden (Ann Entomol Soc 1970; 63: 1175-1180) and Kogan (Ann Entomol Soc 1972; 65. 675-683) and which is analogous to a selection index for discrete food units proposed by Manly (Biometrics 1974; 30. 281-294).