[Sample B: Approval/Signature Sheet] - George Mason University

that the objective should be kept in the hierarchy. A negative response was taken as a
reason for exclusion. 95
One important aspect is that the objectives hierarchy for a particular problem is
not unique. Keeney and Raiffa argue that ―whether one arrangement is better than another
is mainly a matter of the particular points the decision maker and the analyst wish to
make.‖ 96
4.3.1 Attributes
Though the hierarchy described in the previous section represented an important
achievement in the development of the qualitative part of the model, meaningful
attributes to the lower level objectives still needed to be defined. This step was
accomplished, based on personal expertise, research, and elicitations with experts. The
goal was to identify the set composed of the most important attributes for each
fundamental objective at the lower level of the hierarchy.
Since the process of identifying attributes is ―basically creative in nature‖ 97 ,
several attributes were generated for each objective using a brainstorming type of
approach. Then, the list was refined taking the attributes desired properties in
consideration. For example, the first assessment of the objective 1.1.1(maximize the
95 Ibid.
96 Ibid., 47.
97 Ibid., 64.
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