- all criteria get matching form inputs
- polarity: is a higher or lower value
- type of value
- boolean: yes or no, one of two
- number: a number with optional unit
- range: for rankings
- choices: single or multiple choice
What
Welcome to the most tedious step in all of this. Whether on paper or digitally, the data we're evaluating the options by, consists of (numeric) values.
Before actually putting together that data, we assign one of four types for every criterion:
Boolean : yes or no. When something must be one of exactly two ways. Being in color or monochrome, having a feature or not, slimy or crunchy.
Number : a plain number. When things can be directly quantized. Mg of caffeine, money, number of puppies on a farm.
Range : a rating on a scale. Ideal for subjective rankings. 1-5 stars product ratings, 1-10 service review, 11 out of 10 - would listen to again.
Choices : one or more options with a value each. When something can have one or more states out of a list of things for an attribute. (Different options can have the same or different values) Type of material, supported features, color, flavor profile.
And of course what we're calling
“polarity”:
You need to note whether a
higher or lower
value is “better”. Like salaries are generally more desirable when having a high number, but paying less for a
sandwich is probably neat.
Examples
- Price of something: number + currency unit
- Movie rating: range, 1to5, 1to10
- animal activity: nocturnal or diurnal
- transmission: automatic | manual
- tastes in dish: bitter, umami, sweet, sour, salty (multiple choice)
- type of housing: apartment, house, shared flat, dormitory
How
In the app we treat all this like setting up a form. Because we're entering the data in a form in the next step.
For every criterion (yes, really)
- For every criterion you select a type (
- and set the polarity to high or low
- add options and customize possible values to your needs
Specifics for the different types: Binary : if the two choices are not “yes/no”, you can enter something else. The left side is assigned a value of 0, the right side a 1.
Number : you can add an optional unit, and select whether that's a prefix or suffix. Units can be anything you like, but are often something like $, ¥, kg, meters, years (and imperial units also work to some extent)
Range/Slider : these have three values: min 1, max 10, and a step size of 1. You can change these as you see fit, add a unit, and optional labels for min and max.
Choices : add any options you need, and give each one a value. You can also allow selecting more than one option on the right. The values here require a bit of extra thought: When you have multiple choices that are equally “good”, you give everything the same number - giving an option with e.g. more features have a higher total. When different choices are more or less desirable, we recommend using slightly different values. E.g. merino wool could be 3, while acrylic a 1, when considering how comfortable a fabric is to wear.
In the future we'll add optional and partial automation to this process, with suggestions and pre-fill some things. E.g. a price usually is a numeric value in your local currency, the only valid options for drinks are cold tea and water (coffee and warm tea are for enjoying), and obvious other examples.