IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/orinte/v35y2005i6p511-521.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Operation Was a Success but the Patient Died: Aider Priorities Influence Decision Aid Usefulness

Author

Listed:
  • Rex Brown

    (School of Public Policy, George Mason University, University Boulevard, Fairfax, Virginia 22030-4444)

Abstract

The usefulness of quantitative decision aid is often impaired and its usage impeded by the misaligned priorities of analysts and the middlemen who employ them. Analysts’ professional orientation may dispose them to attend to analytic processes more than to deciders’ needs and to stick with outdated practices. As a result, their analyses may be technically sound but disregard key knowledge, make unrealistic assumptions, or answer the wrong questions. Middlemen’s financial or other conflicts of interest exacerbate such defects. Deciders may have to take more control of analyses (and analysts) and, for example, bypass middlemen.

Suggested Citation

  • Rex Brown, 2005. "The Operation Was a Success but the Patient Died: Aider Priorities Influence Decision Aid Usefulness," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 35(6), pages 511-521, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orinte:v:35:y:2005:i:6:p:511-521
    DOI: 10.1287/inte.1050.0153
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/inte.1050.0153
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/inte.1050.0153?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James L. Corner & Craig W. Kirkwood, 1991. "Decision Analysis Applications in the Operations Research Literature, 1970–1989," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 39(2), pages 206-219, April.
    2. Donald L. Keefer & Craig W. Kirkwood & James L. Corner, 2004. "Perspective on Decision Analysis Applications, 1990–2001," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 1(1), pages 4-22, March.
    3. Ralph L. Keeney, 1987. "An Analysis of the Portfolio of Sites to Characterize for Selecting a Nuclear Repository," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 7(2), pages 195-218, June.
    4. Miley W. Merkhofer & Ralph L. Keeney, 1987. "A Multiattribute Utility Analysis of Alternative Sites for the Disposal of Nuclear Waste," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 7(2), pages 173-194, June.
    5. Robert T. Clemen & Robert C. Kwit, 2001. "The Value of Decision Analysis at Eastman Kodak Company, 1990-1999," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 31(5), pages 74-92, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rex V. Brown, 2009. "Working with Policy Makers on Their Choices: A Decision Analyst Reminisces," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 6(1), pages 14-24, March.
    2. Becker, Kai Helge, 2016. "An outlook on behavioural OR – Three tasks, three pitfalls, one definition," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 249(3), pages 806-815.
    3. M. Elisabeth Paté-Cornell & Robin L. Dillon, 2006. "The Respective Roles of Risk and Decision Analyses in Decision Support," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 3(4), pages 220-232, December.
    4. Hämäläinen, Raimo P. & Alaja, Susanna, 2008. "The threat of weighting biases in environmental decision analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1-2), pages 556-569, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:cup:judgdm:v:1:y:2006:i::p:162-173 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Donald L. Keefer & Craig W. Kirkwood & James L. Corner, 2004. "Perspective on Decision Analysis Applications, 1990–2001," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 1(1), pages 4-22, March.
    3. Luis V. Montiel & J. Eric Bickel, 2014. "A Generalized Sampling Approach for Multilinear Utility Functions Given Partial Preference Information," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 11(3), pages 147-170, September.
    4. Vicki Bier, 2020. "The Role of Decision Analysis in Risk Analysis: A Retrospective," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(S1), pages 2207-2217, November.
    5. L. Robin Keller & Craig W. Kirkwood & Nancy S. Jones, 2010. "Assessing stakeholder evaluation concerns: An application to the Central Arizona water resources system," Systems Engineering, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(1), pages 58-71, March.
    6. Rex V. Brown, 2006. "Making decision research useful - not just rewarding," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 1, pages 162-173, November.
    7. Howard Kunreuther & Douglas Easterling & William Desvousges & Paul Slovic, 1990. "Public Attitudes Toward Siting a High‐Level Nuclear Waste Repository in Nevada," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 10(4), pages 469-484, December.
    8. Robin L. Dillon & Vicki M. Bier & Richard Sheffield John & Abdullah Althenayyan, 2023. "Closing the Gap Between Decision Analysis and Policy Analysts Before the Next Pandemic," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 20(2), pages 109-132, June.
    9. Ola Svenson & Gunnar Karlsson, 1989. "Decision‐Making, Time Horizons, and Risk in the Very Long‐Term Perspective," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(3), pages 385-399, September.
    10. Patrick Ilg & Silke Gabbert & Hans‐Peter Weikard, 2017. "Nuclear Waste Management under Approaching Disaster: A Comparison of Decommissioning Strategies for the German Repository Asse II," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(7), pages 1213-1232, July.
    11. Marzi, Sepehr & Farnia, Luca & Dasgupta, Shouro & Mysiak, Jaroslav & Lorenzoni, Arturo, 2019. "Competence analysis for promoting energy efficiency projects in developing countries: The case of OPEC," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    12. Jeffrey S. Stonebraker, 2013. "Product-Generation Transition Decision Making for Bayer's Hemophilia Drugs: Global Capacity Expansion Under Uncertainty with Supply-Demand Imbalances," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 61(5), pages 1119-1133, October.
    13. Timothy McDaniels, 2021. "Four Decades of Transformation in Decision Analytic Practice for Societal Risk Management," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(3), pages 491-502, March.
    14. Ralph L. Keeney & Detlof von Winterfeldt, 1994. "Managing Nuclear Waste from Power Plants," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(1), pages 107-130, February.
    15. Robin Gregory & Sarah Lichtenstein, 1987. "A Review of the High‐Level Nuclear Waste Repository Siting Analysis," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 7(2), pages 219-223, June.
    16. Mingers, John, 2011. "Soft OR comes of age--but not everywhere!," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 729-741, December.
    17. Kimberly M. Thompson & Radboud J. Duintjer Tebbens & Mark A. Pallansch & Olen M. Kew & Roland W. Sutter & R. Bruce Aylward & Margaret Watkins & Howard Gary & James P. Alexander & Linda Venczel & Denis, 2006. "Development and Consideration of Global Policies for Managing the Future Risks of Poliovirus Outbreaks: Insights and Lessons Learned Through Modeling," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(6), pages 1571-1580, December.
    18. Donald L. Keefer & Craig W. Kirkwood & James L. Corner, 2004. "Response to Comments on Keefer et al. (2004)," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 1(1), pages 32-34, March.
    19. Baker, Erin & Keisler, Jeffrey M., 2011. "Cellulosic biofuels: Expert views on prospects for advancement," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 595-605.
    20. Johnson, Fred A. & Jensen, Gitte H. & Madsen, Jesper & Williams, Byron K., 2014. "Uncertainty, robustness, and the value of information in managing an expanding Arctic goose population," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 273(C), pages 186-199.
    21. Charlie Wilson & Tim Mcdaniels, 2007. "Structured decision-making to link climate change and sustainable development," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(4), pages 353-370, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:orinte:v:35:y:2005:i:6:p:511-521. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.