Abstract In this research, we examine the use of interpretive structural modeling in worth assessment. Interpretive structural modeling is a tool which permits identification of structure within a system. The system may be technical, social, medical or any system which contains identifiable elements which are related to one another in some fashion. The system may be large or small in terms of numbers of elements; and it is the larger, complex systems which benefit the most from interpretive structural modeling. We present a tutorial discussion of the underlying theory for interpretive structural modeling by discussing nets, relations, and digraphs. In our explanation of Warfield's partitioning techniques, we clarify some of the theoretical concepts used in structural modeling; and we present an alternate algorithm for realizing the structural model without determining the adjacency matrix. We define the concept of order in a structural model and prove a theorem useful in determining the type of order. We also define a special type of structural model, the single sink digraph tree, and prove a theorem useful in determining whether a given structural model is a single sink digraph tree. We apply interpretive structural model to the worth assessment problem and describe a procedure which is useful in determining the worth assessment hierarchy. Computer implementation of the structural modeling and worth assessment procedure is discussed.
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