Choice set

A choice set is a finite collection of available options selected from a larger theoretical decision space.

For example, a consumer has thousands of conceivable alternatives when purchasing a car, far more than they could reasonably be expected to evaluate.

As such they will often narrow their search to only vehicles of a certain make, or within a specific price range.

By reducing the choice set to a manageable number of alternatives, people are able to make complex decisions between theoretically infinite alternatives in a practical time frame.

Choice sets are often used in psychological and market research to make data collection and evaluation more manageable, or to make direct comparisons between a specific set of choices.