CONTENTS

1.0 Overview

1.1 Career Preparation

1.2 Technical Communication

1.3 Decision Making Challenges

1.4 Decision Analysis

1.5 Strategies for Success

2.0 Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis

2.1 MCDA Overview

2.2 MCDA Question Types

2.3 MCDA in Context

2.4 MCDA Process

2.5 MCDA Example

3.0 Course Design and Assignments

3.1 Product Versus Process Approach

3.2 Imitation Versus Expression Approach

3.3 Assignments Overview

4.0 Identifying a Topic

4.1 How Not to Identify a Topic

4.2 Think About Optimization with Tradeoffs

4.3 Pursue Your Interests

4.4 Interview Friends and Family

4.5 Be Practical

5.0 Example Student Presentations (under construction)

1.0 OVERVIEW

1.1 Career Preparation

This course is designed to help you advance your career. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, employers want students to have high grades as well as the following "key attributes" ranked from most to least desirable (Job Outlook, 2022):

• Problems-solving skills (#1)

In essence, this text asks you to be a consultant. Your work aims to help others clarify, understand, and make difficult decisions (i.e., solve problems). As you do that, you will encounter your own problems. You will struggle. Think about it. Your global commodity analysis will indicate to your readers the likely direction of change (i.e., increase or decrease) in the market price and quantity for your commodity over the next five to 15 year period. You will write and publish your findings a report of about 4,500 words and 10 minute video summary. What employers want to see is that you can solve problems and successfully deliver these kinds of project results without excuses.

• Analytical skills (#2)

Human beings are miserly cognitive processors, meaning they generally resist analytical reflection and instead prefer the instantaneous satisfaction that comes from a relatively quick intuitive or "gut" response, even if such a quick response is more likely to make them worse off [1, 2]. The assignments in this text ask you to use an analytical approach--which is admittedly slower than most intuitive processes--to help inform or help someone make a difficult decision. Most employers want to hire college graduates with strong analytical skills because those employers know that, more often than not, the extra investment of time and energy in analytical thinking is worth it to them. Don't believe me? Consider this question: "A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?" [3]. If you said, "Ten cents," congratulations! That's the answer that most people give who rely on their intuition, but unfortunately that's the wrong answer. Analytical reflection should lead you quickly to see that the correct answer is five cents. Score one for analytical thinking!

• Ability to work in a team (#3)

Unless your instructor says otherwise, you will have to write your own paper and prepare your own presentation. However, that does not mean that you have to or should work alone. Employers want to see that you know how to interact with others to improve your work. That's the definition of teamwork. Who is in your network of colleagues and friends who you can call on for ideas, help, and/or feedback (i.e., "peer review")? Employers want to see that you are nurturing and building your own strong peer support and consultation network. How will you interact with your instructor? What efforts will you make to work with other students if your instructor gives you that option or expectation? Be aware that the default expectation to avoid plagiarism is that you clearly acknowledge others' work that you use. Having an individually strong work ethic--apart from the ability to work in a team--is also important (#6 ranking).

• Communication skills (#4)

Employers want employees who they can rely on to publish content (e.g., emails, corporate memos, videos, speeches, etc.) that reflects positively on them. Employers want employees who can articulate complex ideas and suggestions succinctly in writing. Even if you are not a confident writer now, this text will guide you step-by-step how to write and publish a final product that will make you proud. Employers also value the ability of employees to speak articulately.

• Initiative (#5)

This text includes a lot of detailed instructions. It's not possible to anticipate and answer every question that every student might have. Similarly, employers are not able to describe every expectation of you in your written job description or even in a verbal summary. Instead, employers want employees who are self-motivated, employees who demonstrate initiative, employees who see what needs to be done and do it without having to be asked. This is especially true when an employer assigns an employee a significant project to complete over a relatively long time period. Employers want employees who can document that they have initiative to get work done on time with minimum supervision.

• Detailed-oriented (#9)

Most technical writing involves trying to persuade someone to do or think something based on a set of facts. No matter how brilliant your ideas might be, if you are not well-versed in the facts of the matter, you won't be persuasive. Details matter. This text provides clear instructions about how to use details--particularly in footnotes--to build your credibility as an analyst and thus make your recommendations more persuasive.

The paper and presentation assignments described in this text are designed to help you not only strengthen these highly valued skills but also to demonstrate them in concrete ways that employers will easily recognize. Be sure to read the "Strategies for Success" section below for helpful advice about how to work effectively with a key member of your team--your instructor--to solve assignment-related problems and complete and publish your detailed analysis.

1.2 Technical Communication

There are many different kinds of assignments that students could complete to learn and demonstrate the desirable career skills just mentioned. This text teaches these skills by guiding students how to complete two major technical communication assignments: a paper and presentation.

Technical communication examples include resumes, cover letters, user manuals, textbooks, policy briefs, legal analyses, journal articles, and economic forecasts. Oral examples of technical communication include audio or video documentaries, commercials, public service announcements, news broadcasts, class lectures, and academic presentations. Even logos (e.g., the Nike swoosh) and brands (e.g., distinctive symbols burned into the skin of free-roaming cattle) qualify as technical communication.

All of these examples involve someone (i.e., a technical writer or presenter) simplifying complex information and presenting it to people (e.g., employers, consumers, lawmakers, and investors) who need it to accomplish particular tasks or goals (e.g., hire a qualified employee, make a worthwhile purchase, approve a beneficial law, select an undervalued stock, or differentiate their cattle from others' cattle). Technical communication is sharing complex information in simplified ways to help their audiences accomplish particular tasks or goals.

But, technical communication is not usually a stand-alone skill. Prize-winning author and historian David McCullough once said, "Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That's why it's so hard" [4]. An economist might say that thinking and communication are produced jointly (i.e., they are complements in production). If you want to be an effective analyst, consultant, inventor, entrepreneur, or researcher, you'd better learn how to communicate your useful ideas clearly and vice versa. Technical communicators are thus typically skilled at organizing information to form logical analytical arguments. These organizing skills include knowing--or learning--how to define unclear terms and concepts, how to identify and justify simplifying assumptions, and how to estimate unknown values. It includes knowing how to identify and order a set of claims that, if true, logically lead to a specific conclusion. And, it includes knowing how to gather and arrange relevant factual details (i.e., evidence) to support those claims convincingly.

1.3 Decision Making Challenges

In his book Thinking, Fast and Slow, Nobel Prize winning author Daniel Kahneman describes how "fast" (i.e., instinctive and emotional) thinking is different than "slow" (i.e., deliberative, logical, and analytical) thinking [5]. The "fast" system of thinking is quick, almost automatic, requires little energy or thought, but it is also error prone. The "slow" system of thinking takes more conscious effort, but it is also more reliable. Kahneman describes several experiments showing that people often reach different conclusions depending on which of these two systems of thinking they use.

Some decisions, Kahneman suggests, are better suited to the "fast" system of thinking (e.g., day-to-day questions like what to eat for dinner) while other decisions (e.g., complex decisions like where should I live or what investments should I make) are better suited to the "slow" system of thinking. If you make a decision with the wrong kind of thinking, it can result in problems. If you use "fast" thinking to decide what to eat for dinner, you may waste valuable time and energy, not to mention you may cause a delay in your mealtime and get grumpy. If you use "slow" thinking to decide where to live, you might regret or underestimate the career, personal, or quality of life impacts. The analytical decision making processes described in this text clearly align with the "slow" type of thinking processes and, as such, are designed to help you avoid the impulsive responses that might seem initially correct but are more typically wrong or misguided.

1.4 Decision Analysis

There are nearly as many decision analysis approaches as there are decisions. This text describes decision making processes that are rational and evidence-based. While there are many different ways to analyze and make decisions, there are many common underlying skills [6]. These skills include thinking skills such as the ability to form arguments, define terms, identify assumptions, and estimate unknown values. These skills also include communication skills such as giving attribution correctly, using footnotes effectively, and formatting tables and figures properly. Details and guidance about about skills are found in the "Helpful Resources" section of this page.

1.5 Strategies for Success

Students completing the assignments in this text should already have had some basic exposure to college-level writing (e.g., ENG 101). Some knowledge of the principles of microeconomics (e.g., ECO 201) or basic statistics (e.g., correlation) may also be useful or needed.

Beyond these content prerequisites, students using this text should also agree to three other learning prerequisites. First, students should trust the author of this text and their instructor to guide them to a successful learning outcome (e.g., a particular desired grade in the course). Second, students should always pursue excellence which at minimum means doing one's best work. And third, students should expect positive results for their efforts.

First, students must decide whether they are going to trust this text and their instructor to guide them to success. The alternative is instead to follow one's own ideas about how to do well. That is strongly discouraged. Trust is important in any course, but it is particularly important in a writing-intensive course. This is true for two related reasons. One, writing is hard work. Learning to write well is not a natural gift, and just about everyone who writes must work hard to become a better writer. Two, the harder something is, the more students face temptation to take short-cuts, to create for example writing products aided by cheating rather than by working hard and trusting the instructor's guidance. The Internet provides numerous links to unoriginal texts and to ghost writers who will write term papers for a fee. Make no mistake, copying someone else's work without clear attribution (i.e., plagiarism) is not the same as imitating a prescribed form with permission and filling that form with one's own content. The latter approach is adopted by this text with careful efforts to distinguish it from the former academically dishonest approach.

Students have a decision to make. Students can either follow their own plan (cheat, plagiarize, or whatever), or they can follow the instructor's plan prescribed in this detailed text. This text is designed to guide students to success with their instructor's help. Students that do not trust the text or their instructor to do that and who think it is better to follow their own plan will most likely fail. Students that trust this text and their instructors may fail too, but this text is specifically designed to help students be successful, even students who struggle with analysis, writing, and presenting.

Second, students must decide either to pursue excellence or not. It's that simple. Excellence basically means that students do their best and not merely convince themselves that something less than their best is the same thing as excellence. The two are different. To pursue excellence means that you avoid making excuses. It means that you accept that improved writing and communication is hard work that requires regular practice and attention. It means that you study (not just read) this text, prepare your assignments in advance, and review your work regularly. Making excuses and throwing something together at the last minute without studying the detailed instructions in this text should embarrass any student who thinks such an approach deserves any merit; it does not. Do your best and be proud of that. If you do your best, you certainly should be proud of the work you do and products you deliver.

Third, students should expect results. Students that trust their instructors and that really seek to understand their assignments should learn quickly. You should see obvious results. The results should excite you and make you excited to keep working hard. If you do not experience significant boosts to your confidence, you should check with your instructor immediately. Something is wrong. You should see exciting improvements in your writing every week that build your confidence and pride in your work. The lessons from this text should make your analysis, writing, and presentation skills better in ways that are obvious and clear to you.

In short, students who trust their instructors and pursue excellence should expect strong results.

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[1] Evans, J. 2008. "Dual-Processing Accounts of Reasoning, Judgment, and Social Cognition". Annual Review of Psychology. 59: 255–278.

[2] Pennycook, G., J. Fugelsang, and D. Koehler. 2015. "Everyday Consequences of Analytic Thinking." Current Directions in Psychological Science. 4(26): 425-432.

[3] Frederick, S. 2005. "Cognitive Reflection and Decision Making." The Journal of Economic Perspectives. 19: 25-42.

[4] David McCullough is an American author, historian, and recipient of the Presidential Medial of Freedom, two Pulitzer prizes, and two National Book awards. This quote is from his interview with NEH chairman Bruce Cole (Humanities, 2002, 23).

[5] Kahneman, Daniel. 2011. Thinking, Fast and Slow. Macmillan.

[6] Parsons, Jay. 2016. "Seven Characteristics of a Good Decision." Nebraska: University of Nebraska-Lincoln.