Classical theories of choice emphasise decision making as a rational process. In general,
these theories fail to recognise the formulation stages of a decision and typically can only
be applied to problems comprising two or more measurable alternatives. In response to
such limitations, numerous descriptive theories have been developed over the last forty
years, intended to describe how decisions are made. This paper presents a framework
that classifies descriptive theories using a theme of comparison; comparisons involving
attributes, alternatives and situations. The paper also reports on research undertaken
within a New Zealand local authority. Twenty three senior managers were interviewed
about their decision making with the aim of comparing the responses of participants with
how the descriptive decision making literature purports decisions are made. Evidence of
behaviour consistent with recognised descriptive theories was also investigated. It was
found that few managers exhibited behaviour consistent with what is described in the
literature. The major difference appears to be the lack of decision formulation contained
within most descriptive theories. Descriptive theories are, in general, theories of choice
and few decisions described by participants contained a distinct choice phase.