Value Oriented Social Decision Analysis: Enhancing Mutual Understanding to Resolve Public Policy Issues

Value oriented social decision analysis (VOSDA) is an adaptation of decision analysis to facilitate communication and discussion in social decisionmaking in which multiple decisionmakers and interest groups interact through the political process. Acknowledging the differences of reality judgments as well as of value judgments among the various parties, VOSDA allows different decision tree structures and different sets of probabilities, as well as different preference and utility functions, in the decision analysis of a public policy issue. These differences are identified and explained by the decision analyst to enhance mutual understanding among the interested parties. Although the approach is not intended to force consensus, it includes an interpersonal communication component which uses threat-reduction rhetoric to encourage conflict resolution and facilitate compromise through the political process. The VOSDA procedure is explained and illustrated by an application to a local city council decision on the installation of a solid waste shredding facility.