Evidence Based Decision Making
- Ark Wingrove
- Jun 4, 2020
- 1 min read
One of those absolutely great little asset management mottoes. Once memorised you will probably see/use it time and time again.
Questions about “decision based evidence making”;
Do you recognise having seen this…or even done it yourself?
It is usually done for the best of motives, but is it ever right?
I got this from Ruth Wallsgrove who acknowledges Penny Burns and in turn Peter M. Tingling and Michael J Brydon, writing in the Sloan Management Review (2010).
Many thanks to all those for years of use and utility!
Photo by NASA on Unsplash
Hi Ark
This is a fascinating conundrum.
We know two things (1) that we tend to make decisions based on emotion - and then seek afterwards to justify them rationally; and (2) that, given our attention is limited, we tend to see what we are focusing on and filter out other things. Another way of saying this is that we are subject to a range of ‘cognitive biases’, such as:
Choice-supportive Bias. Once a decision is made, people tend to over-focus on its benefits and minimise its flaws.
Confirmation Bias. Paying more attention to information that reinforces previously held beliefs and ignoring evidence to the contrary
Given this, it is highly possible that decision makers are actually ‘creating decision-based evidence’…