Note on Attribute Importance

Abstract

When we provide a product or service to others, if we are prudent, we want feedback about whether our product or service meets expectations of those to whom it is provided. Thus, we must often ask users to evaluate how we perform on the “bundle of attributes” which constitute our product or service. To use their responses for remedial action, we may ask that others state the relative importance of attributes under consideration. Here, a constant sum method provides much greater variation in importance among attributes than the more traditional rating scale method.