Introduction To Decision Science Part 1: Basic Decision Literacy

This post introduces the core elements of a decision support system as well as decision literacy for business users and Data Scientists.

My next posts are tightly coupled. I cannot explain decision literacy without also explaining game theory and neuroeconomics. I cannot explain the relationship between Data Science and Decision Science without causal graphs. These next four will build upon each other to explain the basics of Decision Support Systems.

Every business has decision support systems. Data Scientists and Analysts provide data to the company. Leadership uses data to make decisions. Decision literacy helps both sides understand the process to improve it significantly.

Decision support systems provide the business (decision-makers) access to complex systems. The available volume of data is overwhelming for people. Giving people everything leads to lower decision outcomes, not better ones.

Without data, people are using heuristics to formulate decisions. These are often incomplete and impacted by unvalidated assumptions. We are not rational actors or decision-makers. I will explore that further in the game theory then neuroeconomics posts.