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Qualitative frameworks for decision support: lessons from medicine

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2009

John Fox  and
Paul Krause
John Fox
Affiliation:
Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PX, United Kingdom
Paul Krause
Affiliation:
Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PX, United Kingdom
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Abstract

Some weaknesses of current decision support technologies are discussed. Numerical methods have strong theoretical foundations but are representationally weak, and only deal with a small part of the decision process. Knowledge-based systems offer greater flexibility, but have not been accompanied by a clear decision theory. Theoretical development of symbolic decision procedures is advocated, an approach to the design of decision support systems based on first-order logic is presented, and work on this approach is reviewed. A central proposal is an extended form of inference called argumentation; reasoning qualitatively for and against decision options from generalized domain theories. Argumentation captures a natural and familiar form of reasoning, and contributes to the robustness, flexibility and intelligibility of problem solving, while having a clear theoretical basis. Argumentation was developed initially for medical applications though it may have much wider applicability.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Knowledge Engineering Review , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , March 1992 , pp. 19 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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