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Morphological analysis or General Morphological Analysis is a method developed by Fritz Zwicky (1967, 1969) for exploring all the possible solutions to a multi-dimensional, non-quantified problem complex.^[1] Morphology is the following: In linguistics, morphology is the study of the structure of word forms. ... Fritz Zwicky (February 14, 1898 – February 8, 1974) was an American-based Swiss astronomer. ...

As a problem-structuring and problem-solving technique, morphological analysis was designed for multi-dimensional, non-quantifiable problems where causal modeling and simulation do not function well or at all. Zwicky developed this approach to address seemingly non-reducible complexity. Using the technique of cross consistency assessment (CCA) (Ritchey, 1998), the system however does allow for reduction, not by reducing the number of variables involved, but by reducing the number of possible solutions through the elimination of the illogical solution combinations in a grid box. A detailed introduction to morphological modeling is given in Ritchey (2002, 2006). Problem solving forms part of thinking. ...

Overview

Morphology comes from the classical Greek concept morphé, meaning shape or form. Morphological Analysis concerns the arrangement of objects and how they conform to create a whole or Gestalt. The objects in question can be a physical system (e.g. anatomy), a social system (e.g. an organisation) or a logical system (e.g. word forms or a system of ideas).^[1] Note: This article contains special characters. ... Look up gestalt in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... See Social structure of the United States for an explanation of concepts exsistance within US society. ... Logic (from Classical Greek λόγος logos; meaning word, thought, idea, argument, account, reason, or principle) is the study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration. ...

Consider a complex real world problem, like those of marketing or making policies for a nation, where there are many governing factors, and most of them cannot be expressed as numerical time series data, as one would like to have for building mathematical models. The conventional approach here would be to break the sytem down into parts, isolate the vital parts (dropping the trivial components) for their contributions to the output and solve the simplified system for creating desired models or scenarios. The disadvantage of this approach is that real world scenarios do not behave rationally and more often than not a simplified model will breakdown when the contribution of trivial components becomes significant.

Morphological Analysis on the other hand, does not drop any of the components of the system itself, but works backwards from the output towards the system internals ^[2].

General morphology was developed by Fritz Zwicky, the Swiss astrophysicist based at the California Institute of Technology. Zwicky applied MA inter alia to astronomical studies and the development of jet and rocket propulsion systems. Fritz Zwicky (February 14, 1898 – February 8, 1974) was an American-based Swiss astronomer. ... An astrophysicist is a person whose profession is astrophysics. ... The California Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Caltech)[1] is a private, coeducational research university located in Pasadena, California, in the United States. ... This page lists direct English translations of common Latin phrases, such as veni vidi vici and et cetera. ... A remote camera captures a close-up view of a Space Shuttle Main Engine during a test firing at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi Spacecraft propulsion is any method used to change the velocity of spacecraft and artificial satellites. ...

Swedish Morphological Society

The Swedish Morphological Society is a non-profit scientific organization, whose purpose is the development and dissemination of knowledge concerning the scientific use of general morphological analysis, its theory and practice. The site contains articles and links on morphological analysis, a history of its development, case studies and a tutorial.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Ritchey, T. (1998). General Morphological Analysis: A general method for non-quantified modeling.
2. ^ Modelling Complex Socio-Technical Systems Using Morphological Analysis(Ritchey 2003-06)[1]

Further reading

• Ritchey, T. (1998). General Morphological Analysis: A general method for non-quantified modeling.
• Ritchey, T. (2006). "Problem Structuring using Computer-Aided Morphological Analysis". Journal of the Operational Research Society (JORS), Vol. 57, No. 7.
• Zwicky, F. (1969). Discovery, Invention, Research - Through the Morphological Approach. Toronto: The Macmillian Company.
• Zwicky, F. & Wilson A. (eds.) (1967). New Methods of Thought and Procedure: Contributions to the Symposium on Methodologies. Berlin: Springer. Reprint available at www.swemorph.com/ma.html

See also

• Corporate strategy
• Fritz Zwicky
• Futures studies
• Influence diagrams
• Market research
• Morphological box
• Portal:Thinking
• Strategic planning
• Scenario analysis
• Scenario planning
• Stakeholder analysis
• Socio-technical systems
• TRIZ