| How can objectives be concise without omitting what matters? | Inspect means–ends structure, relevance, overlaps, and sensitivity to simplification. | Retain an exhaustive descriptive hierarchy, or delete criteria by correlation alone. | Adapt: :4.2–:4.3 keep a small consequence-led account and test any lost distinction. More analyst attention is accepted where it prevents double counting; small clear cases remain short. | Marttunen et al.’s 2019 objectives-hierarchy study supplies the comparative methods and retrospective environmental cases. It supports disciplined simplification, not one optimal hierarchy or a statistical license to discard values. | Reopen when a removed distinction can reverse the comparison or a lighter structure preserves the same concerns. |
| Must incomplete preferences become one weighted score? | Match the preference model to the available judgements and preserve a family of compatible models when necessary. | Fit a single additive model or average participants’ weights for convenience. | Adapt: :4.4–:4.6 retain protected conditions, explicit compensation assumptions, and distinct value accounts. The accepted trade-off is a possibly less decisive result for less invented precision. | Greco, Słowiński, and Wallenius’s 2025 MCDA review compares preference information, models, and recommendation forms, including robust ordinal regression. It is a best-known-line candidate for model–information fit, not evidence of a universally correct value system. | Reopen if new elicitation narrows the compatible models or a domain obligation changes admissible compensation. |
| Can common coordinates perform the value judgement? | Declare meanings and scales separately from preference, comparison, and selection. | Treat a dashboard or normalized vector as the decision model. | Adopt: :4.3 uses A.19 only for the declared space or predicate and leaves value elicitation here. The distinction adds little effort to an existing table and prevents a false consumer result. | Current A.19, C.16, and the direct comparison patterns supply the relevant typing and operation boundaries. They do not elicit the engagement’s values or authorize a trade-off. | Reopen when the scale, predicate, consequence range, or receiving use changes. |