Establishing the Boundaries of a Paradigm for Decision-Making Research

Abstract

In recent years a paradigm shift in decision-making research has occurred. Modern decision researchers are more interested in studying decision making as it occurs in the so-called real world under naturalistic conditions. As such, the naturalistic decision-making (NDM) movement has seen growing support in recent years. Our contention is that in order for a new paradigm of NDM to flourish, it is essential to define carefully and completely the nature of decisions that are of interest to investigate. Once this is done, it is then possible to determine the psychological processes and strategies that decision makers use to cope with this subset of naturalistic decisions and to establish acceptable methods of study. Given this need, the purpose of this article is to examine the concept of NDM as it has been treated in past work and to refine and expand this conceptualization.