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Abstract
Multi-criteria decision support (MCDS) tools assist the decision-maker (DM)
in selecting an appropriate forest plan among specified alternatives. The
selection of appropriate criteria to compare the alternatives is related to the
scales of planning and the availability of appropriate inventory data.
Anyhow, the criteria should reflect the DM’s objectives and address the
production possibilities of the forestry unit at hand. The objectives of this
study is to determine if DMs are able to identify/construct similar
preferences for the forest with varying levels of information regarding the
plans, and to determine if the identified preferences result in the selection of
the same forest plan. A group of forest sciences students were chosen as
testees. A representative sized forest tract from a forest managed by
Metsähallitus was used as a case “holding” providing semi-authentic data.
The MESTA internet application was used to guide participants into
selecting a single forest plan, depending on the criteria presented to the
participant. Results of a systematic experiment showed that approximately
half of the participants selected the same forest plan in two out of three
different decision scenarios. This result suggests one carefully pre-defined
default set of criteria, but it also calls for further study.