The Eightfold Path
4. Select the Criteria
It helps to think of any policy story as having two interconnected but separable plot lines, the analytical and the evaluative. The first is all about facts and disinterested projections of consequences, while the second is all about value judgments.
The step in the Eightfold Path called “Select the criteria” belongs to the evaluative plot line. It is the most important step for permitting values and philosophy to be brought into the policy analysis, because criteria are evaluative standards used to judge the goodness of the projected policy outcomes associated with each of the alternatives.