Resources Repository
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ArticlePublication 2007Decision Analysis: A Personal Account of How It Got Started and Evolved
In this chapter, Howard Raiffa discusses the evolution of decision analysis and his personal involvement …
In this chapter, Howard Raiffa discusses the evolution of decision analysis and his personal involvement in its development. He describes the early days of Operations Research (OR) in the late 1940s with its approach to complex, strategic decision making. After reading John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern’s Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (1947) and Abraham Wald’s two books (1947, 1950), he became involved in statistical decision theory. A few years later, after reading Leonard…
Preferences/Values | Operations Research | Decision Theory | Decision Analysis | Energy/Engineering | Economics/Finance | Probability/Bayes | Business/Industry | Health/Medicine -
ArticlePublication 2017Reduced Burden of Childhood Diarrheal Diseases through Increased Access to Water and Sanitation in India: Modeling Analysis
This analysis estimates the health and economic benefits of scaling up the coverage of piped …
This analysis estimates the health and economic benefits of scaling up the coverage of piped water and improved sanitation to a near-universal 95% level among Indian households. The authors used an agent-based microsimulation platform, IndiaSim, to model disease progression and individual healthcare-seeking behavior in India, and use ECEA to estimate health and economic outcomes over time. They found that scaling up access to piped water and improved sanitation could avert 43,352 diarrheal episodes and 68…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Energy/Engineering | Economics/Finance | Costing Methods | Health Outcomes | Microsimulation | Child/Nutrition | Social Determinants | Environmental Health | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Asia & Pacific -
Working PaperPublication 2015Benefit-Cost Analysis and the Cities
This paper provides a short introduction to the use of benefit-cost analysis to assess interventions …
This paper provides a short introduction to the use of benefit-cost analysis to assess interventions undertaken at the city or municipal level. It introduces the concepts that underlie the conduct of benefit-cost analysis, describes the major analytic components, and discusses how to tailor the analysis to the characteristics of the policy and the resources available. It concludes with a list of references for those interested in learning more.
Priority Setting/Ethics | Preferences/Values | Decision Analysis | Culture/Society | Economics/Finance | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Social Determinants | Environmental Health | Policy/Regulation | Climate/Environment | Government/Law | North America | Critical Thinking/Analysis -
BookPublication 2016Foundations of Decision Analysis
This book is described by the authors as emerging from what they have learned by …
This book is described by the authors as emerging from what they have learned by "teaching decision analysis to thousands of people in the United States and around the world in university classes and special professional educational programs". The early chapters and certain later chapters are written to be accessible to a general audience. Chapters 1 through 17 introduce the foundations of decision analysis without requiring significant mathematical sophistication. Chapter 26 discusses multi-attribute decision problems…
Operations Research | Decision Theory | Decision Analysis | Energy/Engineering | Economics/Finance | Decision Psychology | Probability/Bayes | Business/Industry | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | Global -
BookPublication 2013Handbook of Decision Analysis
This book describes the philosophy, technical concepts, mathematics, and art of decision analysis for the …
This book describes the philosophy, technical concepts, mathematics, and art of decision analysis for the decision professional, and is designed to be supplemental reading for professional decision analysis training courses, a reference for beginning and experienced practitioners, and a supplemental text for an undergraduate or graduate course in decision analysis. The handbook includes chapters on the following topics: decision-making challenges; mathematical foundations of decision analysis; decision analysis soft skills; selecting the decision making process for…
Preferences/Values | Decision Theory | Decision Analysis | Energy/Engineering | Economics/Finance | Probability/Bayes | Value of Information | Health/Medicine -
ReviewPublication 2011Simulation Models of Obesity: A Review of the Literature
Simulation models combine information from a variety of sources to provide a useful tool for …
Simulation models combine information from a variety of sources to provide a useful tool for examining how the effects of obesity unfold over time and impact population health. They can aid in the understanding of the complex interaction of the drivers of diet and activity and their relation to health outcomes. This paper provided an overview of different types of simulation models used to evaluate the potential impact of policies to address the obesity epidemic.…
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Decision Analysis | Economics/Finance | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Microsimulation | Calibration/Validation | Child/Nutrition | Chronic Disease/Risk | Food/Agriculture | Health/Medicine -
ReviewPublication 2001Modeling for Health Care and Other Policy Decisions: Uses, Roles and Validity
This is a review article of the role of modeling approaches to guide decision making …
This is a review article of the role of modeling approaches to guide decision making in health care and other domains. The role of models to support recommendations on the cost-effective use of medical technologies and pharmaceuticals is controversial. At the heart of the controversy is the degree to which experimental or other empirical evidence should be required prior to model use. The authors argue that the controversy stems in part from a misconception that…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Technology Assessment | Energy/Engineering | Economics/Finance | Evidence Synthesis | Mathematical Models | Environmental Health | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Business/Industry | Climate/Environment | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | North America -
ReviewPublication 1982Decision Analysis: An Overview
This article, written for the non-decision analyst, describes what decision analysis is, what it can …
This article, written for the non-decision analyst, describes what decision analysis is, what it can and cannot do, why one should care to do this, and how one does it. Keeney describes decision analysis as "a formalization of common sense for decision problems which are too complex for informal use of common sense." He provides a more technical definition also, describing decision analysis as "a philosophy, articulated by a set of logical axioms, and a methodology…
Preferences/Values | Decision Theory | Decision Analysis | Energy/Engineering | Economics/Finance | Policy/Regulation | Business/Industry | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | Science/Technology -
Resource PackPublication, Teaching Resource 2018Resource Pack: Models for Health Decision Science
This resource pack, curated by the Center for Health Decision Science, provides broad exposure to …
This resource pack, curated by the Center for Health Decision Science, provides broad exposure to mathematical models used in health decision science (e.g., microsimulation, dynamic transmission, agent-based, etc.). Resources include overviews, guidelines, tutorials, and applications relevant to a broad range of clinical and public health topics. A decision analytic approach relies on the use of a mathematical model to formally structure the components of the decision over time. Models are particularly useful when multiple data sources…
Economics/Finance | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Dynamic Transmission | Microsimulation | Dynamic Simulation | Climate/Environment | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology