Analysis of Judgment Policy: A New Approach for Citizen Participation in Planning

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Abstract
Analysis of judgment policy is a technique for obtaining priorities and trade-offs among several issues considered in combination. This procedure was used in an illustrative study of the judgments of city council members and members of local interest groups. The analysis resulted in mathematical and pictorial descriptions of several points of view. The points of view differed with regard to the relative importance of issues and the form of the relation between individual issues and overall judgments. It was found that die city council members were not able to predict the judgments of even the most vocal interest group members. This finding, consistent with laboratory studies, suggests that traditional means for communication between citizens and public officials are inadequate. It is proposed that analysis of judgment policy can be used to obtain improved citizen input for planning.