The purpose of this study was to develop an observation system which would describe some of the important phenomena in groups that have the task of making a decision about a controversial issue involving value conflicts. The basic design to develop the observation system involved the analysis of transcriptions of group discussions of controversial issues. The resulting observation system included tentative criteria for two sets of subcategories for two independent components of activities, operation and content. The 13 operation subcategories included, for example, Stating, Challenging, Interpreting, and Integrating. The 11 content subcategories included, for example, Value Terms, Criteria, Facts, and Value Judgments. The criteria developed for the subcategories were tentative since certain strategic and conceptual difficulties encountered in carrying out the design made it virtually impossible to obtain reliable criteria. An interpretation of value discussions involving resolution of value conflict was based on two fundamentally different but related games, namely the rationality game and the ego game. The aims and roles of the ego game involve winning or persuading, whereas the aims and rules of the rationality game involve achieving a solution to value conflicts which maximizes the values of the participants. Implications of the study were discussed. (Author)