Keywords
quick scan, decision support, policy assessment, participatory modelling, participatory gis, impact assessment
Start Date
1-7-2012 12:00 AM
Abstract
Decision Support Tools (DST) are a key instrument for preparing legislative proposals and policy initiatives. They provide insight about options, conflicts, synergies and trade-offs between issues, sectors and regions at multiple scales. DST range from integrated systems modelling to value-based knowledge systems resulting from expert groups. The results of the expert groups do not provide regional differentiation making it difficult to obtain useful insights for policy making. The ‘black-box’ complex tools are found not transparent by the decision makers that seek to understand the modelling behind the results to be able to cope with the scientific uncertainty and changing policy context. In addition, the policy questions need to be answered in a short period to fit the time horizon of policy making, e.g. a couple of months, which is possible with expert groups, but the complex models are often not ready to deal with this urgency. The QUICKScan tool aims at filling the gap in the pallet of available tools by defining a methodology -supported by modelling software to visualize quantitative and value-based modelling in the decision process. The tool enables the creation of alternative storylines for policy questions by the stakeholders, and translates these in-situ into a model by combining tacit expert knowledge with available spatial explicit monitoring- and statistical-data. QUICKScan builds on concepts from Participatory Modelling and Participatory GIS and uses visualisation and interpretation tools which are essential to support the exploration of options allowing and facilitating the discussion and interaction on the definition of alternatives, analysing their consequences, determining trade-offs and synergies and compare the consequences of alternatives. The QUICKScan tool is designed to calculate fast, and therefor perform multiple iterations of a modelling exercise during a workshop. The results of each iteration feed the discussion among stakeholders and policy makers creating input for a next iteration.
QUICKScan: a pragmatic approach to decision support
Decision Support Tools (DST) are a key instrument for preparing legislative proposals and policy initiatives. They provide insight about options, conflicts, synergies and trade-offs between issues, sectors and regions at multiple scales. DST range from integrated systems modelling to value-based knowledge systems resulting from expert groups. The results of the expert groups do not provide regional differentiation making it difficult to obtain useful insights for policy making. The ‘black-box’ complex tools are found not transparent by the decision makers that seek to understand the modelling behind the results to be able to cope with the scientific uncertainty and changing policy context. In addition, the policy questions need to be answered in a short period to fit the time horizon of policy making, e.g. a couple of months, which is possible with expert groups, but the complex models are often not ready to deal with this urgency. The QUICKScan tool aims at filling the gap in the pallet of available tools by defining a methodology -supported by modelling software to visualize quantitative and value-based modelling in the decision process. The tool enables the creation of alternative storylines for policy questions by the stakeholders, and translates these in-situ into a model by combining tacit expert knowledge with available spatial explicit monitoring- and statistical-data. QUICKScan builds on concepts from Participatory Modelling and Participatory GIS and uses visualisation and interpretation tools which are essential to support the exploration of options allowing and facilitating the discussion and interaction on the definition of alternatives, analysing their consequences, determining trade-offs and synergies and compare the consequences of alternatives. The QUICKScan tool is designed to calculate fast, and therefor perform multiple iterations of a modelling exercise during a workshop. The results of each iteration feed the discussion among stakeholders and policy makers creating input for a next iteration.
