Name: Multi-attribute Utility Analysis

Reference: Edwards, W. (1977). How to use multi-attribute utility measurement for social decision making. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, 7, 326-340.

Edwards, W. and Newman, J.R (1982). Multivariate Evaluation.  Quantitative Applications. In, J.L. Sullivan and R.G. Niemi (Eds.) The Social Sciences 26, 96.

Keeney, R.L., and H. Raiffa. 1993. Decisions with Multiple Objectives: Preferences and Value Trade-Offs. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Clemen, R.T., and R. Reilly (Eds.). 2004. Making Hard Decisions with Decision Tools. Boston, MA: South-western College Publishing.

Conservation planning step(s) when this would be used: This would be used in the Set Goals and Objectives step.

Description of tool use: A tool for helping to deal with the tradeoffs and uncertainties inherent in decision-making where multiple, competing objectives are involved. Utility, or the value associated with a particular decision alternative, is measured as some function of the performance of that alternative on multiple different objectives.

Experience and expertise required to use the tool: This is not suitable for use in the absence of tool-specific expertise.

Data requirements: The tool is suitable for use in data poor situations.

Cost: Apart from the expertise, the tool itself can be used for FREE.

Strengths and weaknesses, when to use and interpret with caution: Eliciting preferences and translating those preferences into numerical values can be difficult.

Case study: Store, R. and J. Kangas (2001). Integrating spatial multi-criteria evaluation and expert knowledge for GIS-based habitat suitability modeling. Landscape and Urban Planning 55:79-93.

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__________________________________________________________________________
Contributor(s): Sarah Converse            
Affiliation: USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
Email: sconverse@usgs.gov                        
Date: 7 February 2012