A decision theoretic model of congressional technology assessment
Subtitle: a theoretical examination of the characteristics of complete assessment reports with applications.
Publisher: University Microfilms International
Published: 1981
Place of publication: Ann Arbor
Language: eng
Number of pages: 477
Subjects: Public administratiom; Decision making
Genres: Technology assessment; United States
Description: This dissertation provides a theoretical foundation for a new approach to assessing the assessment reports of the U.S. congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA).  Earlier approaches were grounded conceptually in imprecise process models of technology assessment.  The new approach is grounded in a new, theoretical, product-oriented model of the role of assessment reports in policy formation.  The new model clarifies the content that ought to be present in an OTA report if the report is to serve its congressional purpose.  In Part Three, the dissertation applies the model to assessing an OTA report and addresses certain interesting problems of congressional technology assessment.
Notes: PhD dissertation, Indiana University, 1981. The dissertation can be purchased from UMI Dissertation Publishing: http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb#search, order number 8112442.
Table of contents: pagenum: ix
class: part
label: List of Illustrations; pagenum: xi
class: part
label: Acknowledgments; pagenum: 1
label: Chapter I
class: chapter
title: Introduction; pagenum: 1
title: The Problem
class: section
label: 1.; pagenum: 3
title: Process Models of TA
class: section
label: 2.; pagenum: 7
label: 3.
class: section
title: Product Models of TA; pagenum: 8
label: 4.
class: section
title: The Dissertation; pagenum: 11
label: 5.
class: section
title: Summary; pagenum: 14
class: section
title: Notes; pagenum: 15
label: Part One
class: part
title: The Social and Legislative History of the Technology Assessment Act of 1972; pagenum: 16
label: Chapter II
class: chapter
title: The Development of Congressional Technology Assessment; pagenum: 16
label: 1.
class: section
title: Congressional Technology Assessment; pagenum: 18
title: The Pre-September-1967 Period
class: section
label: 2.; pagenum: 27
title: The Period From September 1967 to the Floor Debate on HR10243, February 8, 1972
class: section
label: 3.; pagenum: 35
title: The Debate Over the Design of the Technology Assessment Board and the Powers of the Director
class: section
label: 4.; pagenum: 47
label: 2.
class: section
title: The Operational Period: From October 13, 1972 to the Present; pagenum: 61
class: section
title: Notes; pagenum: 65
title: The Decision Theoretic Model of Congressional Technology Assessment
class: part
label: Part Two; pagenum: 67
label: Chapter III
class: chapter
title: The Technology Assessment Model; pagenum: 67
label: 1.
class: section
title: Introduction; pagenum: 73
title: The Logical Relation Between Assessment Reports and Congressional Policy
class: section
label: 2.; pagenum: 77
label: 3.
class: section
title: The Decision Theoretic Model of Congressional TA; pagenum: 84
title: The Legislator's Decision Matrix
class: subsection
label: (a); pagenum: 86
label: (b)
class: subsection
title: The Assessment Report; pagenum: 89
title: Motivating The Model
class: section
label: 4.; pagenum: 90
title: Justifying the Legislator's Decision Matrix
class: section
label: 5.; pagenum: 96
label: 6.
class: section
title: Justification and Completeness; pagenum: 98
title: Conclusion
class: section
label: 7.; pagenum: 100
class: section
title: Notes; pagenum: 102
label: Chapter IV
class: chapter
title: The Action Options; pagenum: 102
label: 1.
class: section
title: Feasibility; pagenum: 114
label: 2.
class: section
title: Manageable Exhaustiveness; pagenum: 118
title: Justifying the Legislator's Decision Matrix
class: section
label: 3.; pagenum: 121
class: part
title: Notes; pagenum: 123
title: The Scenarios
class: part
label: Chapter V; pagenum: 123
label: 1.
class: part
title: The Call for Scenarios; pagenum: 131
label: 2.
class: part
title: The Nature of the Scenarios; pagenum: 138
title: Constructing the Scenarios: Identifying the Relevant Features
class: part
label: 3.; pagenum: 145
title: The Relevance of Features of the World
class: part
label: (a); pagenum: 154
label: (b)
class: part
title: Overlooking a Relevant Feature; pagenum: 163
title: Testing the Set of Scenarios
class: part
label: 4.; pagenum: 169
label: 5.
class: part
title: Justifying the Legislator's Decision Matrix; pagenum: 173
class: part
title: Notes; pagenum: 175
title: The Desirabilities
class: part
label: Chapter VI; pagenum: 175
label: 1.
class: part
title: Assessment Reports Are Not Decision Matrices; pagenum: 182
label: 2.
class: part
title: Measuring the Desirabilities; pagenum: 191
label: 3.
class: part
title: Objections to Measurement by Polling; pagenum: 196
label: 4.
class: part
title: Justifying the Legislator's Decision Matrix; pagenum: 198
class: part
title: Notes; pagenum: 201
title: The Probabilities
class: part
label: Chapter VII; pagenum: 201
title: Subjectivist and Empirical Interpretations of Probability
class: part
label: 1.; pagenum: 208
label: 2.
class: part
title: Necessary Properties of the Probabilities in an Assessment Report; pagenum: 210
title: Justifying the Legislator's Decision Matrix
class: part
label: 3.; pagenum: 216
class: part
title: Notes; pagenum: 217
label: Part Three
class: part
title: Applications of the Model; pagenum: 218
title: Completeness as a Dimension of the Quality of Assessment Reports: A Completeness Checklist
class: part
label: Chapter VIII; pagenum: 218
label: 1.
class: part
title: Quality Control: Necessary and Multi-Dimensional; pagenum: 223
title: Completeness as a Dimension of the Quality of OTA Reports
class: part
label: 2.; pagenum: 231
title: The Set of Scenarios
class: part
label: (a); pagenum: 234
label: (b)
class: part
title: The Set of Congressional Options; pagenum: 237
label: (c)
class: part
title: The Set of Opinion Polls; pagenum: 239
label: (d)
class: part
title: The Set of Probabilities; pagenum: 241
label: (e)
class: part
title: The Completeness Checklist; pagenum: 242
label: 3.
class: part
title: Ranking Assessment Reports According to Relative Completeness; pagenum: 246
label: 4.
class: part
title: Conclusion; pagenum: 247
class: part
title: Notes; pagenum: 249
label: Chapter IX
class: part
title: A Case Study: Coastal Effects of Offshore Energy Systems; pagenum: 249
label: 1.
class: part
title: Background; pagenum: 257
title: Issues and Options
class: part
label: 2.; pagenum: 258
label: (a)
class: part
title: "Offshore Oil and Gas Systems."; pagenum: 260
label: (b)
class: part
title: "Deepwater Ports."; pagenum: 260
title: The New Jersey "Floating Nuclear Powerplant" Scheme
class: part
label: (c); pagenum: 260
title: A General Issue
class: part
label: (d); pagenum: 279
label: (e)
class: part
title: Summary; pagenum: 280
title: Theory and Practice
class: part
label: 3.; pagenum: 281
title: The Scenarios
class: part
label: (a); pagenum: 284
label: (b)
class: part
title: The Desirabilities (dij) and the Probabilities (Pij); pagenum: 284
label: (c)
class: part
title: The Report and Rational Decisions; pagenum: 290
title: The Completeness Checklist
class: part
label: 4.; pagenum: 297
title: Conclusion
class: part
label: 5.; pagenum: 298
class: part
title: Notes; pagenum: 300
title: Philosophical Contributions to a Congressional Technology Assessment Research Program
class: part
label: Chapter X; pagenum: 300
label: 1.
class: part
title: Problem Types and Solution Types in Congressional TA; pagenum: 300
title: External vs. Internal Issues
class: part
label: (a); pagenum: 301
title: Analytical vs. Survey Solutions
class: part
label: (b); pagenum: 302
title: External Issues in Congressional TA
class: part
label: 2.; pagenum: 304
label: (a)
class: part
title: Settle's Argument in Detail; pagenum: 309
label: (b)
class: part
title: Technology Assessment: Fact and Fiction; pagenum: 314
title: Internal Issues in Congressional TA
class: part
label: 3.; pagenum: 315
title: The Proper Balance Between Long-Term Studies and Short-Term Studies
class: part
label: (a); pagenum: 321
label: (b)
class: part
title: The Proper Role of the General Public in Congressional Assessment; pagenum: 322
title: The Possibility of Truly Objective Assessments
class: part
label: (c); pagenum: 324
title: Congressional TA in Foreign Aid Programming
class: part
label: (d); pagenum: 327
title: Collaborative Cross-National TA
class: part
label: (e); pagenum: 328
label: (f)
class: part
title: Internal Issues Suggested by the Decision Theoretic Model; pagenum: 331
label: 4.
class: part
title: On Philosophically Interesting Questions in Technology; pagenum: 332
title: On Technology and Philosophy
class: part
label: (a); pagenum: 339
title: On Giere's Dilemma
class: part
label: (b); pagenum: 342
label: (c)
class: part
title: An Exemplar for the Philosophy of Technology; pagenum: 343
label: 5.
class: part
title: Summary; pagenum: 346
class: part
title: Notes; pagenum: 348
title: Utility Theory and Congressional Technology Assessment
class: part
label: Chapter XI; pagenum: 348
label: 1.
class: part
title: Utility Theory; pagenum: 352
title: Behavioral Decision Theory
class: part
label: 2.; pagenum: 354
label: 3.
class: part
title: "Static" vs. "Dynamic" Decision Making; pagenum: 356
label: 4.
class: part
title: Interpersonally Comparable Utility Functions; pagenum: 358
label: 5.
class: part
title: Bare Preferences; pagenum: 369
label: 6.
class: part
title: Indirect Measurement of Utility; pagenum: 378
title: Multi-Attribute Utility Theory
class: part
label: 7.; pagenum: 379
label: 8.
class: part
title: Conclusion; pagenum: 381
class: part
title: Notes; pagenum: 383
label: Chapter XII
class: part
title: Theodore Roszak on Congressional Technology Assessment; pagenum: 383
label: 1.
class: part
title: An Argument Against Congressional TA; pagenum: 385
title: Rule by Expertise
class: part
label: 2.; pagenum: 391
title: Public Participation: The Argument Falters
class: part
label: 3.; pagenum: 395
class: part
title: Notes; pagenum: 397
class: part
label: Appendices; pagenum: 398
label: Appendix A
class: part
title: Important Process Models of Technology Assessment; pagenum: 398
label: A.1
class: part
title: 1967: U.S. Congress; pagenum: 398
title: 1969: U.S. Congress
class: part
label: A.2; pagenum: 400
title: 1971: Martin V. Jones
class: part
label: A.3; pagenum: 400
label: A.4
class: part
title: 1972: The Technology Assessment Act of 1972 (Appendix C); pagenum: 401
label: A.5
class: part
title: 1974: Joseph F. Coates; pagenum: 402
label: A.6
class: part
title: 1977: Armstrong and Harman; pagenum: 404
label: A.7
class: part
title: 1980: Porter et al.; pagenum: 406
title: The Full Text of HR10243 in its Unamended (S2302) and Amended (HR10243) Forms as of March 2, 1972
class: part
label: Appendix B; pagenum: 423
label: Appendix C
class: part
title: The Technology Assessment Act of 1972; pagenum: 430
title: Anticipated Characteristics of Congressional Technology Assessment
class: part
label: Appendix D; pagenum: 432
label: Appendix E
class: part
title: Reports Surveyed by Selected Studies Supported by the National Science Foundation; pagenum: 433
class: part
label: Bibliography; pagenum: 464
class: part
label: Curriculum Vitae