Problem structuring using computer-aided morphological analysis

T Ritchey ()
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T Ritchey: Swedish Defence Research Agency

Journal of the Operational Research Society, 2006, vol. 57, issue 7, 792-801

Abstract: Abstract General morphological analysis (GMA) is a method for structuring and investigating the total set of relationships contained in multidimensional, usually non-quantifiable, problem complexes. Pioneered by Fritz Zwicky at the California Institute of Technology in the 1930s and 1940s, it relies on a constructed parameter space, linked by way of logical relationships, rather than on causal relationships and a hierarchal structure. During the past 10 years, GMA has been computerized and extended for structuring and analysing complex policy spaces, developing futures scenarios and modelling strategy alternatives. This article gives a historical and theoretical background to GMA as a problem structuring method, compares it with a number of other ‘soft-OR’ methods, and presents a recent application in structuring a complex policy issue. The issue involves the development of an extended producer responsibility (EPR) system in Sweden.

Keywords: morphological analysis; general morphology; problem structuring methods; typology analysis; OR-methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

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DOI: 10.1057/palgrave.jors.2602177

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