4.1.3 Reflections on process
The purpose of engagement with Simulated CDC was to validate process issues of
value-focused thinking that we would test in the field with two actual CDCs.
Therefore, the authors, with research assistants, attempted to recreate as closely as
possible the environment of a values elicitation question, starting with broad-based
questions (‘‘what goals are most important to your organization?’’) and continuing
with more specific questions intended to distinguish between means and ends
objectives and between higher-level and lower-level means objectives (‘‘for theobjective just mentioned, in what ways could it be better achieved?’’) Because there
was only a single stakeholder for this case, we found the process to be deceptively
smooth. We were able to complete our values elicitation in a single 3-h session.
Revising and clarifying the values structure took place over multiple weeks after the
values elicitation session. Elicitation swing weights required multiple tries as we
adapted textbook-style methods to the expertise of a practitioner not experienced
with quantitative analysis.