Derived and lightly edited from Sarah Baase’s book A Gift of Fire

Decision to be made: _________________________

Brainstorming phase:

• List all the people & organizations affected (the stakeholders) and their rights.
• List risks, issues, problems, and consequences, and to whom they pertain.
• List potential benefits. Identify who gets each benefit.
• Cite applicable legal considerations.
• Identify vague or missing information in the scenario and how that would potentially affect your decision. Provide answers.

Analysis phase:

• List potential options.
• Consider the impact of each option on the stakeholders (consequences, risks, benefits, harms, costs).
• Categorize each potential action as ethically obligatory, prohibited, or acceptable.

Synthesis phase:

• Using all of the information, brainstorming and analysis, make and justify the decision(s) regarding how best to address the situation.

Partial visual for methodology: