Poorly Thought-Out Values: Problems of Measurement

1 When faced with complex, unfamiliar issues, people may have poorly formulated, even incoherent, values. In such situations, where people do not know what they want, the values they express may be highly labile. Subtle changes in how issues are posed, questions are phrased, and responses are elicited can have marked effects on people's expressed preferences. Furthermore, confronting these effects is unavoidable if we are to elicit values at all. If one is interested in what an individual really feels about a value issue, there may be no substitute for an interactive elicitation procedure which acknowledges the elicitor's role in helping the repondent to create and enunciate values. There is, however, no guarantee that even the greatest of care will resolve fundamental inconsistencies in values.