Value-Focused Thinking versus Alternative-Focused Thinking: Effects on Generation of Objectives

Within the context of decision analysis, the aim of this work is to discover whether the structure of objectives generated with value-focused thinking (VFT) is different from the structure generated with alternative-focused thinking (AFT). In the first of two studies, two different groups of subjects created a structure of objectives for the same decision problem. Fourteen independent assessments were made for each group. After the terms used by the two groups, were standardized, it was found that the group using VFT generated a more extensive and hierarchical structure than the AFT group. With regard to the content of the objectives, it can be stated that the VFT structure covered aspects of the problem not covered by AFT. In the second study, structures representative of the two approaches were judged by a group of decision-makers—actually involved in the problem—with respect to several qualities. It was found that the structure generated by VFT was equal or superior to that generated by AFT in all qualities judged.