Are Important Weights Sensitive to the Range of Alternatives in Multiattribute Utility Measurement
Abstract
Scaling factors in multiattribute utility measurement can either be assessed directly as importance weights or indirectly by indifference judgments. Critics of the importance weight interpretation of scaling factors argue that importance weights are not sensitive to ranges of alternatives and thus cannot be used to match standardized single attribute utility functions. To examine the range sensitivity of importance weight judgments two experiments were designed. In the first experiment college students gave relative importance weight judgments for a number of attributes when evaluating apartments and liquified natural gas plant locations. After the initial importance weight assessments the range of alternatives in one attribute was changed and subjects reassessed their weights. Although subjects were explicitly instructed to take ranges into account when making these judgments, they were unable to adjust their weights appropriately. To magnify possible range effects a second experiment examined a very simple two attribute car evaluation problem. Subjects were asked directly if weights should change after the range in one attribute was doubled. Most subjects indicated that there should be no change. The results of these experiments suggest that subjects have plausible ranges in mind when assessing importance weights and that they are unwilling to change weights after relatively spurious changes in the alternative set.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1978
- Accession Number
- ADA073366
Entities
People
- Detlof Von Winterfeldt
- William F. Gabrielli Jr.