Resources Repository
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Tutorial/PrimerPublication, Teaching Resource 1994Decision Theory: A Brief Introduction
Decision theory is theory about decisions. The subject is not a very unified one. To …
Decision theory is theory about decisions. The subject is not a very unified one. To the contrary, there are many different ways to theorize about decisions, and therefore also many different research traditions. This text attempts to reflect some of the diversity of the subject. This text, by Sven Ove Hansson, is a non-technical overview of modern decision theory. Its emphasis lies on the less (mathematically) technical aspects of decision theory. It is intended for university students…
Preferences/Values | Decision Theory | Economics/Finance | Graduate | Doctoral | Critical Thinking/Analysis | Quantitative Literacy -
Resource PackPublication, Teaching Resource 2023Resource Pack: Diagnostic Tests, Bayes, and COVID-19
This resource pack provides a curated set of articles, perspectives, and interactives about diagnostic testing …
This resource pack provides a curated set of articles, perspectives, and interactives about diagnostic testing for COVID-19. The pack provides materials that will be particularly useful for educators who are teaching diagnostic test performance, value of information, and probability revision using Bayes’ theorem. The majority of papers focus on PCR or rapid antigen testing on samples obtained from the respiratory tract by nasopharyngeal swab. The mechanism of false negative results (e.g., timing of sample collection…
Probability/Bayes | Test Performance | Value of Information | Decision Analysis | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Global | High School | College | Graduate | Doctoral | Professional | Critical Thinking/Analysis | Graphics/Visualization | Quantitative Literacy -
Tutorial/PrimerPublication, Teaching Resource 2024Tutorial: Building Decision Trees
This tutorial illustrates the basic steps needed to develop decision trees in Amua using a …
This tutorial illustrates the basic steps needed to develop decision trees in Amua using a disease screening example. It details the process of how to build the structure of a decision tree, parameterize the model with probabilities and relevant outcomes (i.e., life expectancy), evaluate three alternative screening strategies in a baseline scenario, and perform one-way sensitivity analyses to assess the robustness of the results to different parameter values. Amua, the Swahili word meaning “decide”/“solve”, is…
Probability/Bayes | Mathematical Models | Decision Analysis | Clinical Care | Health/Medicine | Graduate | Doctoral | Professional -
Tutorial/PrimerPublication, Teaching Resource 2023Conducting Trial-Based Economic Evaluations Using R: A Tutorial
Trial-based economic evaluations are increasingly conducted to support healthcare decision-making but there are inevitable methodological …
Trial-based economic evaluations are increasingly conducted to support healthcare decision-making but there are inevitable methodological challenges. This tutorial provides step-by-step guidance on how to combine appropriate statistical methods using a ready-to-use R script, and addresses missing data, correlated costs and effects, baseline imbalances, and skewness of costs and/or effects. The authors also provide the theoretical background of these methods, and demonstrate their application through a simulated trial-based economic evaluation.
Costing Methods | Evidence Synthesis | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Graduate | Doctoral | Professional | Quantitative Literacy -
Tools/ModelsInteractive, Teaching Resource 2020Interactive Graphic: Interpreting a COVID-19 Test Result
Currently, the most common diagnostic test for COVID-19 relies on reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction …
Currently, the most common diagnostic test for COVID-19 relies on reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and most often uses samples obtained from the respiratory tract by nasopharyngeal swab. This interactive graphic demonstrates the influence of the prior probability of COVID-19, the test sensitivity (i.e., the probability of a positive test conditional on disease presence), and the test specificity (i.e., the probability of a negative test conditional on disease absence) on the post-test probability of…
Probability/Bayes | Test Performance | Infectious Diseases | Clinical Care | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | High School | College | Graduate | Doctoral | Professional | Graphics/Visualization | Quantitative Literacy -
Teaching PackPublication, Teaching Resource 2022Teaching Pack: Using Test Information I
In this teaching pack on Using Test Information I, students review the performance of a …
In this teaching pack on Using Test Information I, students review the performance of a dichotomous test and the relationship between sensitivity and specificity, calculate likelihood ratios to describe test performance, and conduct probability revision using the odds-LR form of Bayes. Materials include an instructor's note, videos, companion slides, a glossary, an annotated bibliography, and sample exercises. Learning Objectives Calculate four conditional probabilities describing the performance of a dichotomous test, and explain the…
Probability/Bayes | Test Performance | Decision Analysis | Child/Nutrition | Health/Medicine | College | Graduate | Doctoral | Professional | Critical Thinking/Analysis | Graphics/Visualization | Quantitative Literacy -
Teaching PackPublication, Teaching Resource 2022Teaching Pack: Using Test Information II
In this teaching pack on Using Test Information II, students are introduced to tests with …
In this teaching pack on Using Test Information II, students are introduced to tests with continuous or categorical results, and calculate the sensitivity and specificity conditional on different 'cutoff points' or 'positivity criterion'. They are introduced to ROC curves and explore the implications of operating at different parts of the curve for any single test. They calculate the optimal positivity criterion given information on the prior, the test performance, and the relative consequences of true…
Probability/Bayes | Test Performance | Decision Analysis | Health/Medicine | College | Graduate | Doctoral | Critical Thinking/Analysis | Quantitative Literacy -
Teaching PackPublication, Teaching Resource 2022Teaching Pack: Valuing Individual Health Outcomes
In this teaching pack on Valuing Individual Health Outcomes, students learn how to assign quantitative …
In this teaching pack on Valuing Individual Health Outcomes, students learn how to assign quantitative values to health outcomes at the individual level, including: expected utility theory, the axioms of this theory, distinguishing between preference-based measures of value and health-related quality of life outcomes, measuring utility using the standard gamble, the time trade-off, and the visual analog scale, and understanding the limitations of these measures. Materials include an instructor's note, videos, companion slides, a glossary,…
Preferences/Values | Health Outcomes | Decision Analysis | Injuries/Accidents | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | College | Graduate | Doctoral -
Teaching PackPublication, Teaching Resource 2022Teaching Pack: Cost-Effectiveness Analysis III
In this teaching pack on Economic Evaluation: Cost-Effectiveness Analysis III, students are introduced to the …
In this teaching pack on Economic Evaluation: Cost-Effectiveness Analysis III, students are introduced to the different types of costs that are included in a cost-effectiveness analysis and learn how the perspective of the analysis helps to determine which costs would be included. Additionally, students learn the three basic steps to costing, identifying costs, measuring costs, and valuing costs, and become familiar with the recommendations of both the original and the more recent Panel on Cost-Effectiveness…
Costing Methods | Evidence Synthesis | Decision Analysis | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Health Systems | College | Graduate | Doctoral | Critical Thinking/Analysis | Quantitative Literacy