The phrase "a small preference for" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when expressing a slight inclination or liking for something over another option.
Example: "I have a small preference for tea over coffee, especially in the mornings."
Alternatives: "a slight preference for" or "a minor preference for".
While early experience gave me a small preference for lager over proper beer, this brush with the demon cider ended my cider-drinking days forever.
The required electrons for such reduction could be supplied by either NADH or NADPH with a small preference for the latter.
Two out of ten subjects did not have a preference, three had a small preference for the learned noise reduction settings, and five had a large preference for learned noise reduction settings (so 80% of the subjects had an overall preference for the learned settings).
We find a small preference for users to have friends of the same gender (see Table 3): on average men have 82 male and 78 female friends (versus the expected values of 79 and 81, respectively), while the average for women is 85 female and 76 male friends (versus the expected values of 81 and 79).
In addition, G213R ClC-7 co-expressing Ostm1 is characterized by a small preference for the lysosomal membrane fraction 31/45% used for the electrophysiological experiments (Fig. 2 B), resulting in an increase of the measurable currents.
Their results indicated a small preference for the degradation of amorphous polysaccharides compared to crystalline cellulose by white-rot fungi, which was even smaller on beech wood.
We consider full implementation in complete-information environments when agents have an arbitrarily small preference for honesty.
Similarly, the negative coefficient for "other trips" by bus indicates that there is a smaller preference towards bus for this category of trips.
Our data (Figs 1 and 3) also suggest that a similar (though smaller) "preference" for the "blob" (nonface) stimuli could have been achieved by manipulating only one parameter (size).
Parents had a small positive preference for additional doses or new medications and a slightly negative preference for the need to add an oral corticosteroid.
Compared with the participants in interactive seminars, significantly more participants in small groups stated a general preference for small group work (93% versus 64%; P = 0.001) and said they believed that participation in small group tutorials enhances retention of information (88% versus 44%; P = 0.000).
