The decision analysis techniques were explained at length to offer guidelines to a person who may encounter a need for them in different decision analysis applications. The application of decision analysis techniques in the two selected Texas cities involved little difficulty in the collection of utility data from the decision makers when the purpose of the utility data was adroitly explained. People with quantitative backgrounds tended to grasp the nature of the subjective utility assessments rather quickly. On the other hand, people with purely quantitative backgrounds tended to be initially suspicious about the purpose of these numerical judgements. The real application difficulty lies, however, in the assessment of attribute weights.
Some people have an extremely difficult time trying to grasp the concept of utility independence.
Decision makers that were experienced or had a knack for abstract thinking had no trouble making the attribute weight assessments. Most decision makers were able to make the weight assessments with additional explanation but a few completely balked. Decision analysis techniques are very appropriate for decision problems having multiattributed conse- quences. Decision analysis techniques offer an explicit medium of communication among decision makers. The systems planning approach developed in Chapter 4 is a valuable guide for water resources development decision problems and in other decision making areas as well.