threecriteria

Threecriteria, often written as three criteria, is a generic term used to describe evaluation frameworks that judge items, actions, or claims against three benchmarks. It is not a fixed theory; rather, it denotes a common pattern across disciplines where a concise triad is used to guide assessment, comparison, or decision making. The exact trio of criteria varies by context, reflecting the priorities and constraints of the field.

Common triads used in practice include:

- Decision analysis: cost, benefit, risk.

- Project management: time, cost, scope (or schedule, budget, quality).

- Sustainability assessment: social impact, environmental impact, economic viability (the triple bottom line).

- Product and software quality: usability, reliability, performance.

- Theory evaluation in science: explanatory power, predictive accuracy, simplicity.

Applications tend to favor triads for their simplicity and clear trade-offs, enabling quick comparisons and transparent justification of choices. However, three criteria are a simplification and may not capture all relevant factors. Criteria can conflict, and weighting or ranking among them can introduce subjectivity. In some contexts, additional criteria may be incorporated or the triad adapted to emphasize domain-specific concerns.

The concept intersects with broader approaches such as multicriteria decision analysis, which systemsically handles multiple criteria (often more than three) and their weights, and with frameworks like the triple bottom line in sustainability, which explicitly foregrounds three interdependent dimensions of impact. Threecriteria serves as a flexible, approachable heuristic for structured evaluation.