2 minute read
DECISION THEATER
What if you could evaluate and see decision outcomes before making them?
THE ASU ADVANTAGE
The Arizona State University (ASU) DecisionTheater (DT) is a university resource supportingand enabling research activities through datavisualization, predictive modeling, and expert multidiscipline and stakeholder analytics.
Dominique Roe-Sepowitz Associate Professor, ASU School of Social Work
Informed Decision Making
Complex systems by their nature are multi-dimensional and cross domain boundaries. System problems cannot be easily understood or solved by looking at it through a single prism that does not consider consequences to all aspects of the problem. While research and practical knowledge on interrelated functions exists, it is often challenging to communicate contextualized relationships to non-expert audiences or decision or policy makers. DT applies an integrated, visualized, data, and mathematical model approach to portraying and analyzing the functions of a system, conducting predictive analysis, and communicating to leaders, practitioners and community members.
From fundamental research to real-world application, ASU DT staff develops custom modeling and simulation tools with unique visualization capabilities to create a common understanding of complex problems. Clients are able to test theories and forecast the outcome of prospective decisions. The collaborative, immersive, and interactive environments created at ASU DT affords researchers and other organizations unparalleled abilities to make decisions in a range of disciplines and environments, often in timesensitive environments, that incorporate multiple streams of real-time information. Economic policy, health care delivery, emergency preparedness, and disaster response are just some examples of the large scale, dynamic systems where key decisions have long-term ramifications.
Unique Decision Theater Methodology
What makes ASU DT different is how we uniquely combine project teams’ technical capabilities using team science and decision science strategies, with specific subject matter expertise to capture project objectives, requisite data, system requirements, and required design elements for each individual project. As depicted in Figure 1, we seek to understand complex problems (the first plane of Figure 1). We integrate newly created or utilize existing models and data databases to represent real world problems (Figure 1, second plane). We conduct data analytics to gain unique insights and perform predictive analytics. But to truly create understanding and informed decision makers, we go further. As depicted on the bottom plane of Figure 1, we visualize the integrated models and data in order to convene engagements of technical experts, stakeholders, and policy makers. Our goal is better decisions made by better, more informed decision makers.
Model Development & Use
ASU DT analysts and modelers work directly with individual researchers and mulitple groups of stakeholders from project initiation to completion and beyond. The process is iterative and user-led, which results in targeted custom model design and development, followed by highly relevant and scalable visualizations. ASU DT delivers products directly to the endusers after complete evaluation and provides thorough training. ASU DT is committed to high-performance and facilitates individual sessions, demonstrations, and working group discussions across the life-time of model development.
