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Putting value of information theory into practice: a methodology for building sequential decision support systems
Author(s) -
Mussi Silvano
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
expert systems
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.365
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1468-0394
pISSN - 0266-4720
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0394.2004.00266.x
Subject(s) - computer science , value of information , decision support system , test (biology) , optimal decision , decision analysis , value (mathematics) , decision theory , expected utility hypothesis , decision engineering , business decision mapping , operations research , risk analysis (engineering) , management science , artificial intelligence , machine learning , decision tree , mathematics , medicine , paleontology , statistics , economics , biology
The paper presents a methodology for building sequential decision support systems based on decision theory using value of information (for short, DT‐VOI based SDSSs). DT‐VOI based SDSSs support decision‐makers in difficult problems of sequential decision‐making. In particular we consider the problem of building DT‐VOI based SDSSs which are capable of supporting decisions in critical situations where (1) making a decision entails knowing the states of some critical hypotheses, and such knowledge is acquired by performing suitable tests; (2) test outcomes are uncertain; (3) performing a test entails, in general, some drawbacks, so that a trade‐off exists between such drawbacks and the value of the information provided by the test; (4) performing a test has the side‐effect that it changes the expected benefit from performing other tests; (5) exceptional situations alter probability and utility default values.