National Aeronautics and Space Administration fundamental research program. Information utilization and evaluation

In the second half of the 1980's NASA can expect to face difficult choices among alternative fundamental and applied research, and development projects that could potentially lead to improvements in the information systems used to manage renewable resources. The working group on information utilization and evaluation believes that effective choices cannot be made without a better understanding of the current and prospective problems and opportunities involved in the application of remote sensing to improve renewable research information systems. A renewable resources information system is defined in a broad context to include a flow of data/information from: acquisition through processing, storage, integration with other data, analysis, graphic presentation, decision making, and assessment of the affects of those decisions

Web 2.0-based Collaborative Multicriteria Spatial Decision Support System: A Case Study of Human-Computer Interaction Patterns

The integration of GIS and Multicriteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) capabilities into the Web 2.0 platform offers an effective Multicriteria Spatial Decision Support System (MC-SDSS) with which to involve the public, or a particular group of individuals, in collaborative spatial decision making. Understanding how decision makers acquire and integrate decision-related information within the Web 2.0-based collaborative MC-SDSS has been one of the major concerns of MC-SDSS designers for a long time. This study focuses on examining human-computer interaction patterns (information acquisition behavior) within the Web 2.0-based MC-SDSS environment. It reports the results of an experimental study that investigated the effects of task complexity, information aids, and decision modes on information acquisition metrics and their relations. The research involved three major steps: (1) developing a Web 2.0-based analytic-deliberative MC-SDSS for parking site selection in Tehran, Iran to analyze human-computer interaction patterns, (2) conducting experiments using this system and collecting the human-computer interaction data, and (3) analyzing the log data to detect the human-computer interaction patterns (information acquisition metrics). Using task complexity, decision aid, and decision mode as the independent factors, and the information acquisition metrics as the dependent variables, the study adopted a repeated-measures experimental design (or within-subjects design) to test the relevant hypotheses. Task complexity was manipulated in terms of the number of alternatives and attributes at four levels. At each level of task complexity, the participants carried out the decision making process in two different GIS-MCDA modes: individual and group modes. The decision information was conveyed to participants through common map and decision table information structures. The map and table were used, respectively, for the exploration of the geographic (or decision) and criterion outcome spaces. The study employed a process-tracing method to directly monitor and record the decision makers’ activities during the experiments. The data on the decision makers’ activities were recorded as Web-based event logs using a database logging technique. Concerningiv task complexity effects, the results of the study suggest that an increase in task complexity results in a decrease in the proportion of information searched and proportion of attribute ranges searched, as well as an increase in the variability of information searched per attribute. This finding implies that as task complexity increases decision makers use a more non-compensatory strategy. Regarding the decision mode effects, it was found that the two decision modes are significantly different in terms of: (1) the proportion of information search, (2) the proportion of attribute ranges examined, (3) the variability of information search per attribute, (4) the total time spent acquiring the information in the decision table, and (5) the average time spent acquiring each piece of information. Regarding the effect of the information aids (map and decision table) on the information acquisition behavior, the findings suggest that, in both of the decision modes, there is a significant difference between information acquisition using the map and decision table. The results show that decision participants have a higher number of moves and spend more time on the decision table than map. The study presented in this dissertation has implications for formulating behavioral theories in the spatial decision context and practical implications for the development of MC-SDSS. Specifically, the findings provide a new perspective on the use of decision support aids, and important clues for designers to develop an appropriate user-centered Web-based collaborative MC-SDSS. The study’s implications can advance public participatory planning and allow for more informed and democratic land-use allocation decisions

Decision making and association in hoarding

Hoarding is a serious and debilitating disorder that has a chronic course, is difficult to treat, and has a high treatment dropout rate. The most notable feature of hoarding is excessive clutter, which is driven by excessive acquiring of objects and difficulty discarding them. Two little researched factors that appear to be particularly central in contributing to acquiring and difficulty discarding are decision-making deficits and association. This study examined decision making and association, using self-report measures, a computerized decision-making task, and an association task, in a sample of 62 participants, consisting of 39 hoarders and 23 non-hoarding controls. These individuals were recruited from online sources and completed the study online. As predicted, hoarders scored significantly higher than controls on aspects of decision making: indecision, concern over mistakes and perfectionism. As predicted, group differences were not found for actual number of mistakes on a decision-making task. Contrary to predictions, hoarders and controls did not differ on the decision-making aspects of slowness; considering many pieces of information; or the information processing aspect of association. Results revealed no significant correlations between measures of hoarding symptoms and any aspects of decision making or association. Furthermore, concern over mistakes did not predict hoarding symptoms over and beyond actual mistakes. Indecision did not mediate concern over mistakes and hoarding symptoms, nor did indecision mediate perfectionism and hoarding symptoms on either hoarding measure in the hoarding group. These findings provide further support for the role of certain decision-making deficits in hoarding and highlight the need to conceptualize and examine potential ways these deficits impact acquisition and difficulty discarding

How do Students Choose and use Technology for Collaborative Learning?

In this case study, 86 physiotherapy undergraduate students studying a third year module, chose a blend for a collaborative task. Data was focused in capturing the students’ experience, and included interviews, questionnaires, and observation of both face-to-face and online activity. The students held strong views on collaborative learning that included inclusivity, valuing difference, democracy and the importance of all group members participating fully in decision making. All groups used a similar range of technology. They highly valued the classroom technologies provided in a specialised collaborative classroom that included computers and data projectors that enabled a group to visualise their output and connect to their online group sites. They used the online environment (the University’s managed learning environment) largely as a repository, ‘offloading’ some of the organisational components of collaboration and for knowledge acquisition that enabled them to use the face-to-face meetings for interaction and co-construction of knowledge. They did not use the asynchronous facilities for discussion, more for basic information giving, in common with other studies on undergraduate students. Students also wanted their education and social sites e.g. Facebook kept separate. The process undertaken in completing the weekly tasks had clear stages which included individual and group components. The students’ experience reflected aspects of both of the two major metaphors of learning ‘acquisition’ and ‘participation’. Students organised their use of technology to enable them to maximise interaction when they met faceto- face. The implications for practice include, creating more dedicated high technology classrooms, introducing technologies in a structured way earlier in the course and tutors modelling their use

Application of the analytic hierarchy process method in a comparison of financial leasing and loans

Decision making is an integral part of all business processes. Some decisions are spontaneous and others time consuming, requiring detailed information about their implications. Decision making can be performed according to perspectives that may also be conflicting in nature. Models that are helpful in dealing with such problems are multi-criteria decision-making methods. The most important method in this group is the analytic hierarchy process. The principle of the analytic hierarchy process is the distribution of the main parts into smaller and more detailed elements and thus the creation of a structured problem. The aim of this paper is to select the optimal form of asset acquisition (loan or leasing) according to clients’ selected criteria using the analytic hierarchy proces (AHP) and a sensitivity analysis to assess the resulting rank of alternatives. Based on the criteria, financial leasing with a high down payment was selected as the best alternative. By means of the sensitivity analysis, it was found that the best alternative is not sensitive to a change in the weights estimated by the AHP

Examining Decision-Making Regarding Environmental Information

Eight participants were asked to view a computer-based multimedia presentation on an environmental phenomenon. Participants were asked to play a role as a senior aide to a national legislator. In this role, they were told that the legislator had asked them to review a multimedia presentation regarding the hypoxic zone phenomenon in the Gulf of Mexico. Their task in assuming the role of a senior aide was to decide how important a problem this issue was to the United States as a whole, and the proportion of the legislator’s research budget that should be devoted to study of the problem. The presentation was divided into 7 segments, each containing some new information not contained in the previous segments. After viewing each segment, participants were asked to indicate how close they were to making a decision and how certain they were that their current opinion would be their final decision. After indicating their current state of decision-making, participants were interviewed regarding the factors affecting their decision-making. Of interest was the process by which participants moved toward a decision. This experiment revealed a number of possible directions for future research. There appeared to be two approaches to decision-making: Some decision-makers moved steadily toward a decision, and occasionally reversed decisions after viewing information, while others abruptly reached a decision after a certain time period spent reviewing the information. Although the difference in estimates of distance to decisions did not differ statistically for these two groups, that difference was reflected in the participants’ estimates of confidence that their current opinion would be their final decision. The interviews revealed that the primary difference between these two groups was in their trade-offs between willingness to spend time in information search and the acquisition of new information. Participants who were less confident about their final decision, tended to be the same group of participants who moved slowly toward a decision. These participants also tended to indicate that acquisition of information was more critical than the amount of time spent on the information search. The second group tended to form a set of specific questions for which they desired specific answers. This group was more likely to demonstrate a significant reduction in their distance to a decision much earlier than the first group. In addition, this group tended to be very confident of their final decision and indicated that time spent in information search was more critical than obtaining new information. They indicated that the value of information obtained must remain high to justify the extensive time spent in information search

Decision making: Tourism and hospitality game

This paper introduces the reader to an experiment that proposes an expanded format of cooperative learning techniques with sets of pedagogical innovations to better meet the teaching outcomes. In this context the paper presents a decision-making game where Tourism and Hospitality students are fully involved in the educational process via active participation in the Tourism and Travel Game. The game demonstrates decision-making processes that must be taken within competitive environment with imperfect information. The individual components of the game allow players to explore the effects of production capacity, production costs, market demand, and government controls within a competitive market. Students are expected to develop various skills and competences during game. The paper presents an assessment instrument in order to provide a feedback if students benefited from opportunities that replaced a lecture with active participation by using the Tourism and Travel Game. An assessment instrument allowed us to evaluate the students\u27 opinion on their knowledge acquisition and retention rate. Each student was given the same questionnaire that evaluated how teaching with Tourism Game had influenced each area of the students\u27 learning outcome: positive interdependence, face-to-face interaction, individual accountability, group processing of the group learning experience, critical thinking, problem solving, decision-making ability, aptitude for detail, oral communication, written communication, knowledge of information, ability to organize and analyze, comprehension, application, synthesis and evaluation. Obtained results indicate a strong support for using the game as a pedagogical tool rather than a traditional lecture

When Do Groups Get It Right? On the Epistemic Performance of Voting and Deliberation

This paper examines the claim that democratic decision making is epistemically valuable. Focussing on communication and voting, circumstances are identified under which groups are able to reliably identify the ‘correct alternative.’ Employing formal models from social epistemology, group performance under varying conditions in a simple epistemic task is scrutinized. Simulation results show that larger majority requirements can favour the veto power of closed-minded individuals, but can also increase precision in well-functioning groups. Reasonable scepticism against other people's opinions can provide a useful impediment to overly quick convergence onto a false consensus when independent information acquisition is possible

Economic Experiments on Conflict, Information Acquisition, and Public Goods

This dissertation contains essays on economic experiments. The first chapter, “Well, at Least I Tried: Partial Willful Ignorance, Information Acquisition, and Social Preferences,” focuses on the effects of information acquisition on social decision-making. The second chapter, “Paved With Good Intentions: Partial Willful Ignorance and Group Identity in Public Goods Games,” focuses on the effect of information acquisition on contributions to public goods. I also explore human conflict in the third chapter, “Risk Preferences and Reform Paths: Experimental Evidence.” In my first chapter, “Well, at Least I Tried: Partial Willful Ignorance, Information Acquisition, and Social Preferences”, I investigate whether remaining partially ignorant of the consequences of one’s decision leads to a decrease in prosocial behavior. In the experiment, subjects play as dictators (using the strategy method) in a dictator game, where they must choose either a known distribution or an unknown distribution between themselves and the recipient. They can choose to acquire signals about the recipient’s payoff in the unknown game, and information acquisition may be costly or free. This yields a 2 x 2 experimental design – information acquisition may be costly or free, and the revealed distribution may be selfish or prosocial. I find that subjects acquire more free information than costly information. I also find that subjects are more likely to acquire additional signals when they believe that the unknown distribution is prosocial. On average, subjects who believe the distribution in the unknown game is prosocial acquire one additional signal relative to subjects who believe the distribution is selfish (conditional on acquiring at least one signal). I also find evidence that subjects look for excuses to be selfish. In my second dissertation chapter, “Paved With Good Intentions: Partial Willful Ignorance and Group Identity in Public Goods Games,”, I investigate whether remaining partially ignorant of the consequences of one’s decision leads to an increase in free-riding behavior in a public goods game, particularly when subjects are strongly attached to a particular group identity. I do this by introducing a noisy signal to agents in a public goods game; some agents go through an identity formation task to test the effects of identity on information acquisition. Subjects then play a simultaneous public goods game. Data is in the process of being collected and will be presented at the defense. The third chapter of my dissertation, “Risk Preferences and Reform Paths: Experimental Evidence”, uses an experiment to test the land reform model outlined in Horowitz’s 1993 paper in The American Economic Review, “Time Paths of Land Reform: A Theoretical Model of Reform Dynamics.” The model predicts that, given risk-neutral agents, there is a unique reform path that avoids conflict. When agents are risk-averse, multiple safe reform paths exist. Risk-neutral agents should always accept the risk-neutral path, while risk-averse agents should always accept both the risk-neutral and risk-averse reform paths. I find that neither of the reform path types outlined in Horowitz prevent conflict, and that this failure is explained neither by loss aversion nor by risk aversion