Renewed attention has been granted to the link between environmental values and management directives or policies. This article argues that standard survey techniques can mask the situational richness that connects a stated value or objective to a related management action. Consequently, new analytic techniques are needed—techniques that more closely follow the reasoning that connects values with actions in specific contexts. We describe the use of one such experimental technique, a “decision pathways” questionnaire, and present the results of its application during a survey of vegetation‐management alternatives in Ontario.