ABSTRACTThis paper examines some approaches to decision problems under uncertainty. Starr's [29] domain criterion is presented and modified to take into account different philosophies concerning the desirability of winning versus the importance of avoiding losses. The concept of expected value of distribution information is defined and its computation is illustrated with a numerical example. Target values are then introduced into the model and a parametric procedure is used to maximize the chances of achieving a certain level of the given objective. Finally, we show how the concepts developed in this paper might provide further insight into some decision situations reported in the literature.