What if …..? Designing tools to help the public make difficult decisions

2009 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 202-210
Author(s):  
Patricia Wright
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Information Overload ◽  
Decision Aids ◽  
Digital Tools ◽  
Behavior Changes ◽  
Psychological Processes ◽  
The Public ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Diverse Audience

Information overload results from having plenty of data but not enough time to organize it so that it assists decision making. This paper argues that although digital tools can help people make decisions, their development could benefit from an appreciation of how people’s behavior changes as the display features of the tools change. Therefore advantages could come from greater collaboration between designers and researchers who explore the psychological processes that enable decision making (processes such as search, understanding, inference and memory). Evidence is provided of individual differences in the way decision aids are used, and the value of multimodality information to accommodate diverse audience needs.

scholarly journals Application of the watershed sustainability index in the Piranhas-Açu watershed

Water Policy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 622-640
Author(s):  
D. D. Costa e Silva ◽  
H. M. L. Chaves ◽  
W. F. Curi ◽  
J. G. V. Baracuhy ◽  
T. P. S. Cunha
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Resources Management ◽  
The Public ◽  
Sustainability Index ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Semi Arid Region ◽  
Brazilian Northeast

Abstract The current worldwide water resources issue is one of the crucial matters to overcome obstacles to sustainable development. This problem, formerly tackled in a sectored manner, is now pointing towards an analysis directed to treating the watershed as a management unit, with regards to all dimensions of knowledge and, especially, to the public participation in the decision-making processes. As an alternative to measure its performance, it has been sought out to develop indexes aimed to measure its sustainability, but there is still a lack of the use of composed efficient methodologies that also enable public participation in decision-making. This research presents a methodology comprising 15 indexes for the calculation of the Watershed Sustainability Index (WSI), followed by the application of the PROMETHEE multi-criteria analysis method and the COPELAND multi-decision-maker method. The methodology was applied to evaluate the performance of subwatersheds of the Piranhas-Açu watershed, located in the Brazilian northeast semi-arid region. The performance ordering, obtained through the application of the methods, emphasizes that subwatersheds' performances are uneven. It can be noticed that the subwatersheds' performances are still far from ideal in relation to water resources management, even in the ones that displayed satisfactory index levels.

Certified Patient Decision Aids: Solving Persistent Problems with Informed Consent Law

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thaddeus Mason Pope
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Informed Consent ◽  
Medical Treatment ◽  
Shared Decision Making ◽  
Decision Aids ◽  
Shared Decision ◽  
Legal Doctrine ◽  
Patient Decision Aids ◽  
Patient Decision ◽  
Decision Making Processes

The legal doctrine of informed consent has overwhelmingly failed to assure that the medical treatment patients get is the treatment patients want. This Article describes and defends an ongoing shift toward shared decision making processes incorporating the use of certified patient decision aids.

Framing Information Technology Governance in the Public Sector: Opportunities and Challenges

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 89-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khalifa Al-Farsi ◽  
Ramzi EL Haddadeh
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Information Technology ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
It Governance ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Technology Governance ◽  
Support Organizations ◽  
Information Technology Governance ◽  
Decision Making Processes

Information technology governance is considered one of the innovative practices that can provide support for decision-makers. Interestingly, it has become increasingly a de facto for organizations in seeking to optimise their performance. In principle, information technology governance has emerged to support organizations in the integration of information technology (IT) infrastructures and the delivery of high-quality services. On the other hand, decision-making processes in public sector organisations can be multi-faceted and complex, and decision makers play an important role in implementing technology in the public sector. The aim of this paper is to shed some light on current opportunities and challenges that IT governance is experiencing in the context of public sector services. In this respect, this paper examines the factors influencing the decision-making process to fully appreciate IT governance. Furthermore, this study focuses on combining institutional and individual perspectives to explain how individuals can take decisions in response to institutional influences.

scholarly journals The Role of Public Participation in Governance towards Achieving Sustainable Development. Part 1

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 395-404
Author(s):  
Maurice S. Nyarangaa ◽  
Chen Hao ◽  
Duncan O. Hongo
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Political Class ◽  
The Public ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The Government

Public participation aimed at improving the effectiveness of governance by involving citizens in governance policy formulation and decision-making processes. It was designed to promote transparency, accountability and effectiveness of any modern government. Although Kenya has legally adopted public participation in day-to-day government activities, challenges still cripple its effectiveness as documented by several scholars. Instead of reducing conflicts between the government and the public, it has heightened witnessing so many petitions of government missing on priorities in terms of development and government policies. Results show that participation weakly relates with governance hence frictions sustainable development. Theoretically, public participation influences governance efficiency and development, directly and indirectly, thus sustainable development policy and implementation depends on Public participation and good governance. However, an effective public participation in governance is has been fractioned by the government. Instead of being a promoter/sponsor of public participation, the government of Kenya has failed to put structures that would spur participation of citizens in policy making and other days to activities. This has brought about wrong priority setting and misappropriation of public resources; The government officials and political class interference ultimately limit public opinion and input effects on decision-making and policy formulation, which might be an inner factor determining the failure of public participation in Kenya. The study suggests the need for strengthening public participation by establishing an independent institution to preside over public participation processes.

scholarly journals Decision Biases and Heuristics Among Emergency Managers: Just Like the Public They Manage For?

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 292-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick S. Roberts ◽  
Kris Wernstedt
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Structured Decision Making ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Managers ◽  
Emergency Managers ◽  
Decision Biases ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Outcome Bias ◽  
Attribution Bias

We present evidence that emergency managers exhibit some of the same decision biases, sensitivity to framing, and heuristics found in studies of the general public, even when making decisions in their area of expertise. Our national survey of county-level emergency managers finds that managers appear more risk averse when the outcomes of actions are framed as gains than when equivalent outcomes are framed as losses, a finding that is consistent with prospect theory. We also find evidence that the perceived actions of emergency managers in neighboring jurisdictions affect the choices a manager makes. In addition, our managers show evidence of attribution bias, outcome bias, and difficulties processing numerical information, particularly probabilities compared to frequencies. Each of these departures from perfect rationality points to potential shortfalls in public managers’ decision making. We suggest opportunities to improve decision making through reframing problems, providing training in structured decision-making processes, and employing different choice architectures to nudge behavior in a beneficial direction.

Conclusion: SDO Decision-making and the Public Interest

2020 ◽  
pp. 210-237
Author(s):  
Alison Harcourt ◽  
George Christou ◽  
Seamus Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
International Level ◽  
Multiple Streams ◽  
Policy Entrepreneurship ◽  
Historical Representation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Decision Making Processes

The conclusion situates the book’s findings in academic debates on democracy and the Internet, global self-regulation, and civil society, and international decision-making processes in unstructured environments. It assesses whether current standards-developing organization (SDO) decision-making is able to bridge historical representation gaps and deficiencies. A nuanced pattern is emerging with increasing inclusion of a wider number of actors within SDO fora. The first part of the chapter returns to the Multiple Streams (MS) framework applied to the case studies on a comparative basis. It identifies key processes under which SDO rules of interaction are established at the international level and explains which interests have come to the fore within decision-making highlighting the occurrence of policy entrepreneurship, forum shopping, and coupling. The final part explores additional frameworks for SDO regulation where spaces for public interest consideration might occur in the future. These are opportunities for inserting public interest considerations into international and national Acts, certification programmes, and the move towards open source solutions for Internet management. The book concludes that, although the literature is expansive on the interaction of corporate sector actors within SDOs, the study of other actors, such as digital rights groups, civil society, academics, policy entrepreneurs and the technical community as a whole, has been underdressed in the literature on international self-regulatory fora to date. In this respect, the book raises important questions of representation of the public interest at the international level by having addressed the actions of actors within SDO fora who promote public interest goals.

‘Stepping on the heads of our Gods'

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 40-56
Author(s):  
Yangji Doma Sherpa ◽  
A. John Sinclair ◽  
Thomas Henley
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Court Cases ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mountain Environments ◽  
Hydroelectric Dam ◽  
Decision Making Processes

The Himalayan region of India is experiencing rapid development in tourism, agriculture, highway construction and hydroelectric dam construction. This research considered the role of the public both within and outside of development decision-making processes in these high mountain environments using the proposed Himalayan Ski Village (HSV) in Manali as a case study. The qualitative data revealed that there has been an extensive array of public participation activity related to the HSV project over approximately 10 years. Very little of this activity has evolved, however, through the formal decision-making process. Rather, most participation activities, such as general house meetings, objection letters, public rallies, court cases against the proposed project, and a religious congregation were instigated by the public to protest the proposed development. The findings also show that involvement in the participatory activities undertaken by the public and project proponent fostered instrumental and communicative learning outcomes.

How Judges Use Weapons of Influence: The Social Psychology of Courts

2013 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-24
Author(s):  
Guy Davidov ◽  
Maayan Davidov
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Judicial Decision ◽  
Judicial Decision Making ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Face ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The Government

Research on compliance has shown that people can be induced to comply with various requests by using techniques that capitalise on the human tendencies to act consistently and to reciprocate. Thus far this line of research has been applied to interactions between individuals, not to relations between institutions. We argue, however, that similar techniques are applied by courts vis-à-vis the government, the legislature and the public at large, when courts try to secure legitimacy and acceptance of their decisions. We discuss a number of known influence techniques – including ‘foot in the door’, ‘low-balling’, ‘giving a reputation to uphold’ and ‘door in the face’ – and provide examples from Israeli case law of the use of such techniques by courts. This analysis offers new insights that can further the understanding of judicial decision-making processes.

Unpacking Big Data in Education. A Research Framework

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-137
Author(s):  
Rosanna De Rosa ◽  
Biagio Aragona
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Data Use ◽  
Digital Tools ◽  
Policy Cycle ◽  
Core Element ◽  
Technological Revolution ◽  
Research Framework ◽  
Scarce Resources ◽  
Decision Making Processes

Abstract The use of big data represents a valuable way to inspire decision-making in a time of scarce resources. The technological revolution is in fact enabling governments to use a great variety of digital tools and data to manage all phases of the policy cycle process, becoming a core element for e-governance applications and techniques. However, research is seemingly not yet aligned yet with the hybrid environment that both public policies and politics are moving in, while the actors (old and new) and the decision-making processes themselves, in their searching for automation and objectivity, risk being overshadowed. Taking the case of Higher Education, this article proposes a research framework for big-data use to prompt the reflection on the power of “evidence” in decision making; to question and contextualize such evidences in a multimodal and integrated scenario, and to understand the challenges that data will pose to education both in terms of unforeseen and hidden effects.

Individual Differences in Pilot Performance

1976 ◽  
Vol 20 (17) ◽  
pp. 403-409
Author(s):  
Miles R. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Pilot Performance ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Research Decision ◽  
Glide Slope ◽  
Pilot Behavior

Selected literature on individual differences in pilot performance is reviewed in order to indicate a possible direction for research. Decision-making performance in contingency situations is seen as a potentially fruitful area for study of individual differences, although information on the relative roles of experience and cognitive abilities, styles, and strategies are needed in all research areas. The role of cognitive styles in pilot performance is essentially unexplored; however, the identification of individual pilot behavior differences that have been attributed to style differences and the results of automobile driver behavior research suggest considerable potential. Approaches to studying pilot decision-making processes are discussed, with emphasis given to the wrong-model approach in which accident and incident data, or “process tracing” provide experimental computational structures. Analysis of data from a simulator experiment on V/STOL zero-visibility landing performance suggests that the order of ranking of individual pilot's effectiveness varies with particular situations defined by combinations of tracking requirements (e.g., glide slope, localizer) and glide-slope segment, or speed requirements; the data are being further analyzed.

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