This section describes how to create weights for use in the Choice Simulator when it is integrated within a Lighthouse Studio project (typical usage).
Let's assume you are conducting a CBC, ACBC, CVA, or ACA conjoint analysis study within Lighthouse Studio. Let's further assume you have asked a number of additional questions outside of the conjoint questions, including PurchaseVolume.
By default, any numeric (continuous) variables (e.g. numeric, constant sum data) within your Lighthouse study are automatically available as weights. For example, if you asked respondents how many units they typically purchase of the given product and it was captured as a numeric question named PurchaseVolume, then you can select this as a weighting variable within the Choice Simulator on the My Scenario Settings dialog, within the Segmentation group on the toolbar.
However, other times you will have computed a new weighting variable for each respondent and will have that available in a separate file, such as a .CSV file. You can merge the weighting variable into your Lighthouse project via the Data Management dialog. From the main Lighthouse Studio dialog (exit the Choice Simulator if you have launched the simulator) click File | Data Management...
There are three different ways to create a weighting variable for use in the choice simulator from the Data Management area:
1. From the Get Data tab, you can Merge external data from a .csv file. Let's assume you created a .CSV file containing sys_RespNum in the first field followed by Weight in the second field (where Weight is a continuous variable containing values such as 0.85627, 1.13245, etc.). The first row must contain labels. Respondent number must be named sys_RespNum. Variable names must not begin with numbers or contain spaces.
Make sure to set the Data Type to Continuous if you want to use the merged variable as a segmentation variable in the choice simulator.
2. From the the View/Edit Data tab, you can click the Add Weight icon 
to create a new weighting variable where you can associate a specific weight with categories of individuals. These categories of individuals are identified by filters that you must have previously set up in the Manage Filters area. If the filters do not exist yet, you can create new filters by clicking the Manage Filters... button.
3. You can add a new variable (to be used as a weighting variable in the choice simulator) using the Add Column icon 
. Make sure the Data Type is Continuous. A new blank column is appended to the data table. Making sure that your data match the respondent case id order in the data table, you can paste your weighting data into the blank column from another software program such as Excel.