SYSTEM EVALUATION METHODOLOGIES: COMBINED MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCALING AND ORDERING TECHNIQUES.

This paper reports part of a large study concerned with future telecommunication systems. It presents the results of a pilot study testing a new combination of methodologies whereby a basic set of system attributes are selected and their interrelationships determined. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) and rank-order techniques were the two methodologies utilized. These techniques required list of system attributes and a questionnaire which enabled a sample group of individuals to provide proximity measures and to rank order data on attributes. Analysis of this data then provided information on the relative importance of the attributes and insights to the conceptual framework within which the questionnaire respondents rank ordered them.