Resources Repository
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ReviewPublication 2016Decision Support for Infectious Disease Control
This report from RAND reviews decision-support tools, including models and nonmodeling approaches, that are relevant to …
This report from RAND reviews decision-support tools, including models and nonmodeling approaches, that are relevant to infectious disease prevention, detection, and response and aligns these tools with real-world policy questions that the tools can help address. This overview is designed to help modelers and other technical experts understand the questions that policymakers will raise and the decisions they must make. The report also presents policymakers with the capabilities and limitations of the different tools that may…
Dynamic Simulation | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Government/Law | Dynamic Transmission | Microsimulation | Infectious Diseases | Global Governance | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | Global -
ReviewPublication 2015Agent-Based Models and Microsimulation
This article reviews the principles and applications of agent-based models (ABMs). ABMs are computational models …
This article reviews the principles and applications of agent-based models (ABMs). ABMs are computational models used to simulate the actions and interactions of “agents” within a system. Usually, each agent has a set of rules for how he or she responds to the environment and to other agents. These models are used to gain insight into the emergent behavior of complex systems with many agents, in which the emergent behavior depends upon the micro-level behavior…
Dynamic Simulation | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Energy/Engineering | Microsimulation | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | Science/Technology -
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…
Decision Psychology | Government/Law | Energy/Engineering | Business/Industry | Decision Theory | Probability/Bayes | Decision Analysis | Operations Research | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | Global -
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…
Mathematical Models | Government/Law | Energy/Engineering | Business/Industry | Priority Setting/Ethics | Evidence Synthesis | Technology Assessment | Environmental Health | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Climate/Environment | Economics/Finance | 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 | Government/Law | Energy/Engineering | Business/Industry | Decision Theory | Decision Analysis | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | Science/Technology -
Teaching PackWeb Portal, Teaching Resource 2023Teaching Pack: Heuristics with Joe Pliskin
This teaching pack, curated by the Center for Health Decision Science, features videos introducing heuristics …
This teaching pack, curated by the Center for Health Decision Science, features videos introducing heuristics used in decision making. While these “mental shortcuts” can be useful in some circumstances, they can lead to more errors than deliberate, rational thinking. An awareness of these heuristics is useful to decision makers. This series of videos on heuristics was developed by Professor Joe Pliskin during his residency with the CHDS Media Hub led by Jake Waxman. They reflect…
Preferences/Values | Decision Psychology | Business/Industry | Decision Theory | Probability/Bayes | Chronic Disease/Risk | Clinical Care | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | High School | College | Graduate | Doctoral | Professional | Critical Thinking/Analysis | Decision Making/Leadership | Quantitative Literacy -
ArticlePublication 2022Vaccinations versus Lockdowns to Prevent COVID-19 Mortality
This analysis estimated the costs associated with preventing Covid-19 deaths by vaccinations versus lockdowns. Publicly …
This analysis estimated the costs associated with preventing Covid-19 deaths by vaccinations versus lockdowns. Publicly available datasets from the Israeli Ministry of Health were used to model the parameters of the pandemic in Israel. The Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker was used for quantitative data on government policies. Data on the Israeli economy were taken from the Central Bureau of Statistics. The models demonstrate that the first lockdown prevented 1022 COVID-19 deaths at the cost…
State-Transition | Costing Methods | Government/Law | Decision Theory | Health Outcomes | Decision Analysis | Infectious Diseases | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Middle East & North Africa -
ArticlePublication 2021Identifying Credible Sources of Health Information in Social Media: Principles and Attributes
Social media is widely used as a source of health information for the general public. …
Social media is widely used as a source of health information for the general public. The potential for information shared through social media to influence health outcomes necessitates action by social media platforms to enhance access and exposure to high-quality, science-based information. This paper summarizes the work of an independent advisory group convened by the National Academy of Medicine that deliberated and gathered information to develop a set of initial principles and attributes that could…
Preferences/Values | Decision Psychology | Education/Labor | Social Determinants | Policy/Regulation | Culture/Society | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | North America -
ArticlePublication 2021Why the Backfire Effect Does Not Explain the Durability of Political Misperceptions
Previous research indicated that corrective information can sometimes provoke a so-called “backfire effect” in which …
Previous research indicated that corrective information can sometimes provoke a so-called “backfire effect” in which respondents more strongly endorsed a misperception about a controversial political or scientific issue when their beliefs or predispositions were challenged. This article shows how subsequent research and media coverage seized on this finding, distorting its generality and exaggerating its role relative to other factors in explaining the durability of political misperceptions. To the contrary, an emerging research consensus finds that…
Preferences/Values | Decision Psychology | Government/Law | Social Determinants | Culture/Society | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | North America