IATAFI Traditional and Modern Technology Assessment: Toward a Toolkit JAN VAN DEN ENDE, KAREL MULDER, MARJOLIJN KNOT, ELLEN MOORS, and PHILIP VERGRAGT ABSTRACT Technology assessment (TA) as a discipline includes rather different approaches and methods. Tradition- ally, the discipline has focused on forecasting, impact assessment, and policy studies. Later more process- oriented approaches, such as constructive technology assessment (CTA), were developed that were aimed explicitly at influencing the shape of new technologies. Although the new approaches have enriched the field of technology assessment, the scope and variety of the field has increased, particularly concerning its methods. These range from trend extrapolation and Delphi’s to interventions in innovation networks and consensus conferences. This article aims to classify the approaches and methods of TA into a common framework. Distinctions are made between methods of analysis and intervention methods, and between methods functioning as project layout and mere tools. Some criteria are formulated for the choice of methods. In this way, the article attempts to increase the coherence of the field of TA, and to make it more transparent to nonpractitioners such as scientists and engineers, government employees, and members of civil movements.  1998 Elsevier Science Inc. Introduction In the past decades technology assessment (TA) has become a broad field, including studies about and interventions in the development of technology and its social aspects. Studies of the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) are widely known. The 1994 elections created a Republican majority in the U.S. Congress. Unfortunately, the Republicans decided to show their determination in keeping their ‘‘Contract with JAN VAN DEN ENDE is with the Management of Innovation Unit, Rotterdam School of Management, Rotterdam, Netherlands. KAREN MULDER, MARJOLIJN KNOT, ELLEN MOORS, and PHILIP VERGRAGT are members of the Technology Assessment Unit, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands. Address correspondence to Dr. J. van den Ende, Rotterdam School of Management F2-67, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, Netherlands. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 58, 5–21 (1998)  1998 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved. 0040-1625/98/$19.00 655 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10010 PII S0040-1625(97)00052-8