ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews qualitative approaches to wise decision aiding. It focuses on qualitative principles of sound decision reasoning, which are based implicitly on the logic of applied decision theory (ADT). Explicit ADT involves quantifying students judgments and inferring the preferred action they imply. Prescriptive decision analysis (PDA) is any systematic reasoning, designed to improve students decision-making. It encompasses decision aids as PDA tools, which identify preferred action. It prescribes what students should do rather than describe what students actually do. PDA can be unstructured, such as “pattern recognition” or “lateral thinking”. The object of PDA is to extract as much relevant material as possible from the content of students mind, to this end. Students may use more than one decision approach. Visualizing option aftermaths is a projection decision aid which has students imagine the scenario resulting from an option.
