**5. The model**

In order to develop the *Training Advisor*, we used theories of individual choice behaviour analysis (Ben-Akiva & Lerman, 1992; ChoiceStream, 2004; Chaptini, 2005). Discrete choice analysis is the modelling of individuals' choices from a set of mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive alternatives. A decision maker is modelled as selecting the alternative with the highest utility among those available at the time the choice is made. An operational model consists of parameterised utility functions in terms of observable independent variables and unknown parameters the values of which are estimated from a sample of observed choices made by decision makers when confronted with a choice situation.

The framework for choice theories can be viewed as an outcome of a sequential decisionmaking process that includes the following steps: 1) Definition of the choice problem; 2) Generation of alternatives; 3) Evaluation of attributes of the alternatives; and 4) Choice Model.
