Process models of decision making

Abstract

Process-tracing approaches to the study of decision making usually involve analysis of verbal protocols or information board measures. This article draws a parallel between the decision-making research and the general field of problem solving with respect to the analysis of think-aloud protocols. A literature review is given of the types of analyses used in studies on decision making in which think-aloud protocols were collected. Results indicate that only four of the twenty-three decision studies involve the construction of process models such as are common in problem-solving research. Possible objections against think-aloud data are discussed and the construction and use of process models in decision-making research is illustrated by means of an information display board task in which subjects were asked to think aloud. Similarities and dissimilarities between decision making and general problem solving and their implications for the construction of process models are discussed.