Logical Decisions - Classweb

Set a Small k. The Enter Small k option lets you directly enter
the Small k (scaling constant) for an active member. Defining
one small k lets LDW compute the other small ks for the goal
based on the weight assessments.
When you select this option, LDW asks you to choose an active
member and then to enter the small k for that member.
If you enter a small k smaller than the one that would have been
computed based on the weight assessments alone, LDW will
define a MUF formula that shows destructive interaction.
Entering a small k larger than the one that would have been
computed based on the weight assessments alone will result in a
MUF formula that shows constructive interaction.
Product of Utilities. This option tells LDW to compute the active
goal’s utility as the product of the utilities of its members. No
further assessment is needed. In fact, no further weight
assessment is needed either, since no scaling constants are
needed when multiplying utilities. All the members will
effectively have equal weights. Any weight assessments done
for the goal will be ignored.
Products of utilities are useful in situations where you want to
treat the goal members like probabilities and the goal utility like
the joint probability of all of the members.
Products of utilities are also useful when you want to combine a
“quality” measure with a “quantity” measure. An example
might be measuring health care services by the number of
people served and the quality of service. If the either number of
people served is 0 or the quality of service is 0 then the overall
health services score should also be 0. Multiplying the utilities
achieves this result.
Interactions When Directly Entering Weights
The "Direct Entry" weight assessment method lets you directly
enter the small k (scaling constant) for each active member. If
you select the "Interactions Computed Directly" interactions
assessment method, you can use the scaling constants you enter
to directly define interactions.
The small ks must to be between zero and one, but they do not
have to sum to one. Small ks that sum to 1.0 imply an additive
7-44 Section 7 -- Using LDW 2: Assessing