scholarly journals Policy thinking: from ‘if ... then’ to ‘what if ...’

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Wolf
Keyword(s):  
Production Management ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Mutual Learning ◽  
Good Advice ◽  
Knowledge Policy ◽  
Lively Debate ◽  
Good Policy

Now, more than ever before, good advice is held to be a function of its knowledge base. Advisers seek connections between information, knowledge, policy and outcomes. Given issue complexity, multiple values and competing sources of information, lively debate focuses on various qualities of knowledge, and its production, management and relevance. Some policy advisers and decision makers equate ‘good’ knowledge with expert and scientific ‘evidence’. Others proclaim the worth of local and ‘interpretive’ knowledge, which arises from consultation, dialogue and mutual learning processes. Unfortunately, debate centred on the qualities of knowledge tacitly assumes that good qualities automatically increase the odds of good policy.

Coexistence of Pluralities through Practices of Intercultural Relationships

10.1558/37327 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge E. Castillo Guerra
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Intercultural Relationships ◽  
Mutual Learning ◽  
Cultural Orientations ◽  
Intercultural Philosophy

This article investigates how migrants and refugees contribute to forms of co-existence among peoples with different religious and cultural orientations. Drawing on theories of intercultural philosophy and decolonial thinking, the author focuses on transformations of identity and faith among Catholic Latin American migrants in Europe and the United Sates of America. He argues that when these migrants encounter exclusion and uprooting, processes of transformation converge in parish communities. There they create mutual learning processes leading to new intercultural practices such as the deaconry of culture and relationship.

Japanese-language videos on YouTube as a source of public health information for COVID-19 (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeo Yasu
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
The State ◽  
Video Content ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Public Health Information ◽  
Youtube Videos ◽  
Spread Of Infection

BACKGROUND Serious public health problems, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, can cause an infodemic. Sources of information that may cause an infodemic include social networking services; YouTube, which consists of content created and uploaded by individuals, is one such source. OBJECTIVE To survey the content and changes in YouTube videos that present public health information about COVID-19 in Japan. METHODS We surveyed YouTube content regarding public health information pertaining to COVID-19 in Japan. YouTube searches were performed on March 6, 2020 (before the state of emergency), April 14 (during the state of emergency), and May 27 (after the state of emergency was lifted), with 136, 113, and 140 sample videos evaluated, respectively. The main outcome measures were: (1) The total number of views for each video, (2) video content, and (3) the usefulness of the video. RESULTS In the 100 most viewed YouTube videos during the three periods, the number of videos on public health information in March was significantly higher than in May (p = .02). Of the 331 unique videos, 9.1% (n = 30) were released by healthcare professionals. Useful videos providing public health information about the prevention of the spread of infection comprised only 13.0% of the sample but were viewed significantly more often than not useful videos (p = .006). CONCLUSIONS Individuals need to take care when obtaining information from YouTube before or early in a pandemic, during which time scientific evidence is scarce.

scholarly journals Why hasn’t evolution selected for perfect self-control?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Hayden
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Subjective Feeling ◽  
Obvious Reason ◽  
Control Failures

Self-control refers to the ability to deliberately reject tempting options and instead select ones that produce greater long-term benefits. Although some apparent failures of self-control are, on closer inspection, reward maximizing, at least some self-control failures are clearly disadvantageous and non-strategic. The existence of poor self-control presents an important evolutionary puzzle because there is no obvious reason why good self-control should be more costly than poor self-control. After all, a rock is infinitely patient. I propose that self-control failures result from cases in which well-learned (and thus routinized) decision making strategies yield suboptimal choices. These mappings persist in the decision-makers’ repertoire because they result from learning processes that are adaptive in the broader context, either on the timescale of learning or of evolution. Self-control, then, is a form of cognitive control and the subjective feeling of effort likely reflects the true costs of cognitive control. Poor self-control, in this view, is ultimately a result of bounded optimality.

Coping With the Infodemic With Scientific Knowledge Management

2022 ◽  
pp. 14-35
Author(s):  
Jorge Biolchini ◽  
Eliane Azevedo Gomes ◽  
Elaine Cristina Ferreira Dias ◽  
Tatiana Figueiredo
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Development Methodology ◽  
Methodological Rigor ◽  
Group Information ◽  
Different Sources ◽  
Science Technology And Innovation ◽  
Support Decision Making

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a challenge to the health area and generated an enormous amount of information, some accurate and some not, which made it difficult to locate reliable sources of information. Scientific knowledge has become the best way to mitigate this infodemiological process. Observatories are instruments to support decision making, seeking to integrate different sources of information and communicate the results using research methodologies such as the COVID-19 Scientific Evidence Observatory. Created by members of the research group Information in Science, Technology, and Innovation in Health, of the IBICT, it aims to meet the informational demands of the most varied audiences. Its development methodology involves a knowledge management team that uses the methodological rigor of the systematic literature review to seek, evaluate, synthesize, and enable access to reliable and qualified sources of information. It provides access to different sources of national and international information from the Kaleidoscope of Science.

scholarly journals 3200 Balancing Cost and Quality of Care in the US and Denmark: Lessons for Nations Transitioning from Volume-Based to Value-Based Care

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (s1) ◽  
pp. 140-140
Author(s):  
Negin Fouladi ◽  
Margit Malmmose
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Quality Of Care ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Healthcare Organizations ◽  
Regulatory Oversight ◽  
Physician Practices ◽  
The Us

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: Promote knowledge translation and evidence-informed decision-making by assessing barriers and facilitators to balancing cost and quality of care within the US state of Maryland and nation of Denmark. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Open-ended and semi-structured key-informant interviews were conducted in 2016 and 2017 among high level decision-makers in Maryland (N=21) and the Danish (N=17) healthcare systems, including hospital, local, regional, and cross-organizational administrators and elected officials. The interviews consisted of questions related to: (1) currently practiced and preferred approaches to resource allocation and development and use of quality performance measures, and (2) preferred sources, formats/styles, modes of information, and decision-making strategies based on a shift from volume to quality-driven care. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Decision-makers in Maryland expressed the need for collaboration in a changing environment, yet increasingly rely on cost and quality outcomes data to drive decisions and note the struggle to identify credible and useful information. Maryland decision-makers also face challenges in regulating utilization and costs without mandated participation of physician practices within the global budget cap model, which is perceived to be a primary driver of healthcare utilization in the hospital sector. Similarly, decision-makers in Denmark conveyed the importance of quantitative data to aid decisions, however, stress collaboration and dialogue as driving factors and important sources of information. Danish decision-makers also express challenges to wide-spread adoption of a quality-driven approach due to unsustained quality assurance regulatory bodies. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: The findings suggest implementation of value-based healthcare is highly driven and influenced by availability of credible data, which may significantly impact development of policies and innovative cost control strategies, and regulatory oversight to promote adoption of quality measures in decision-making. Furthermore, collaboration within and across healthcare organizations remains a key component to health system improvement as it fosters dialogue and sharing of best practices among stakeholders.

scholarly journals Experiential Learning Processes Informing Climate Change Decision Support

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 681-694
Author(s):  
Scott E. Kalafatis ◽  
Jasmine Neosh ◽  
Julie C. Libarkin ◽  
Kyle Powys Whyte ◽  
Chris Caldwell
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Native American ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Learning By Doing ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Cultural Boundaries ◽  
The Right

Abstract Climate scientists are increasingly called upon to collaborate with policy makers to develop climate science–informed policy decisions. However, there are concerns that existing professional and cultural boundaries will remain persistent barriers to fulfilling the potential promise of these collaborations. The perception that scientists will be learning by doing while pursuing these efforts does little to assuage these concerns because more research is needed into how scientists actually learn to collaborate more effectively. Using interviews with 18 individuals identified by their peers as particularly successful participants in collaborations between Native American Tribes and climate science organizations, this paper offers suggested practices and examines learning processes underlying the development of these suggestions. The development of the list of suggested practices highlights the extent to which having the right attitude, taking the right actions, and cultivating the right processes are intertwined factors associated with success in these collaborations. Analysis of the learning processes underlying interviewees’ suggestions for suggested practices offered five sources of information that frequently led interviewees to reflect on their experiences and gain new knowledge from them. Despite these common trends, each interviewee described a reflection system that they had cultivated to continually monitor and enhance their work in collaborations that was personalized and distinctive from those the other interviewees used. Increased attention to these tailored reflection systems offers a path forward for understanding how experiential learning can most effectively enhance climate change decision support.

Salmon fishing in the severn: Judicial deference to regulatory judgments based on scientific assessments

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-209
Author(s):  
Patrick Bishop
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Law ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Final Decision ◽  
Wide Margin ◽  
Probative Value ◽  
Regulatory Decision ◽  
Margin Of Appreciation ◽  
Environment Agency ◽  
Court Of Appeal

To claim that environmental law is heavily influenced by science is to make a rather trite assertion. Disputes about the probative value of scientific and technical evidence when used as the basis for a regulatory decision are therefore not uncommon. R. (on the application of Mott) v Environment Agency is an example of this phenomenon. In particular, the key issue was whether the Environment Agency had acted perversely (in judicial review terms) by relying on contested scientific evidence as the justification for imposing catch limitations designed to preserve salmon stocks in the river Wye. In finding for the Agency, the Court of Appeal restated and reaffirmed the established principle that decision makers ought to be afforded a wide margin of appreciation in such cases; a principle which reinforces the view that the courts are not an appropriate forum for the resolution of scientific and technical disputes. In commenting on this decision it is contended that the position of the courts in this regard has the potential to undermine the rationale of evidence-based decision making. However, it is impractical in most instances for a regulator to wait for a scientific consensus to emerge, particularly when acting to protect a threatened species. As a compromise solution, it is suggested that prior consultation at least has the potential to allow affected parties to scrutinise the available science, and offer alternative evidence prior to the final decision.

scholarly journals Process and Determinants of Cross-Border Migration of Nepalese People of India

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-184
Author(s):  
Laxman Singh Kunwar
Keyword(s):  
Random Sampling ◽  
Sampling Method ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Migration Process ◽  
Systematic Random Sampling ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Determining Factors ◽  
Employment Situation ◽  
Migration Theories

Cross border migration between Nepal and India has long history with unique dimensions. This paper highlights the migration process and determining factors of cross border migrants of Nepalese people to India. Some literatures related with migration between Nepal and India as well as main migration theories including their debates are highlighted. The study households were selected randomly by using systematic random sampling method. The information was collected through field study by using structured and semi structured questions. The participation of ancestors in cross border, sources of information, accompanies of migrants and decision makers for cross border migration were analyzed in migration process. Main reasons of crossing the border, employment situation, poverty and income, land holding size, indebtedness and frequencies of migrants crossing the border by themselves were concluded the main determining factors in cross border migration.

Timely Partnerships? Contrasting Geographies of Activism in New Zealand and Australia

Urban Studies ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 1343-1366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Panelli ◽  
Wendy Larner
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Community Development ◽  
Development Programme ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Mutual Learning ◽  
Time Space ◽  
State Relations ◽  
Short Time ◽  
Time Frames

Analyses of activism have inspired geographers for many years, but most of this work has focused on relatively short time-frames, events and struggles. This paper suggests that there is much to be gained from a greater engagement with issues of time and time—spaces. It outlines and applies the contrasting conceptions of chrono/ chora and kairo/ topos notions of time—space as potentially useful ways to interrogate geographies of activism. The paper focuses on two specific forms of activism—an Australian women’s ‘Heritage Project’ and a New Zealand ‘Fishbowl’ evaluation of a community development programme— to show how politics is contingent on diverse temporal as well as spatial conditions. It reveals the complex navigations that are made as these politics are negotiated via both mutual learning processes and the forging of new activist—state relations. It is concluded that these ‘timely partnerships’ have involved moving beyond adversarial conceptions of ‘state’ and ‘activist’, but at the risk of reconstituting activism as ‘social capital’.

Basis for Decisions on Emerging Health Technology: A Danish Feasibility Study

1998 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 624-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torben Jørgensen ◽  
Lars Grupe Larsen
Keyword(s):  
Health Services ◽  
Feasibility Study ◽  
Early Identification ◽  
Clinical Effectiveness ◽  
Health Technology ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Early Assessment ◽  
Danish Health ◽  
Number Of Patients

AbstractThe objectives of the feasibility study were to evaluate sources of information for an eventual Danish system for early identification and assessment of emerging health technology, to identify potential users of the system, and to clarify their specific need for information concerning emerging health technology. The methods used were questionnaires to informants within and outside the health services and to decision makers on different levels in the health services, and follow-up telephone interviews. Our study reveals a strong, and to some extent unsatisfied, need among policy makers, planners, and managers in the Danish health services for information concerning emerging health technology. The requested information should in particular concern indication for use, number of patients affected, clinical effectiveness and side effects, running cost, and investments. The time horizon most relevant to the decision makers seems to be only zero to 2 years. Furthermore, we found that numerous sources are available that frequently display information on emerging technology important to the health services. The challenges seem to be to select information of sufficient importance and quality, and to combine information, since very few, if any, single primary sources cover all the requested information. In conclusion, we recommend the establishment of a Danish national system for early identification and assessment of emerging health technology, consisting of a small secretariat that collaborates nationally and internationally, the latter in particular on identification of technology and on development of methods for early assessment.

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