Assessment of multiplicative utility functions via holistic judgments

Abstract

This paper presents a decomposition procedure for assessing multiplicative multiattribute utility functions which relies solely on a few holistic assessments of utilities. Consistent with the procedures of Keeney and Raiffa, the procedure exploits the basic preference attitudes of the decision maker to identify the form of the utility function. The procedure differs in that it uses a familiar response mode, holistic assessment of profiles, to determine the scaling constants and univariate utility functions comprising the multiplicative utility function. Analyses of synthetic respondents are presented which support the efficacy of the procedure. Finally, it is argued that the proposed procedure has equal claim on the “major advantages”: namely, explicitly defining evaluation criteria, communication about value conflicts, and facilitating sensitivity analyses of value trade-offs—advantages commonly associated with decomposition methods. The procedure's likely advantage is ultimate ease of administration in specific circumstances.