Font Size: a A A

Adaptive decision support systems: A framework for making decision support systems more effective

Posted on:1999-11-09Degree:Ph.DType:Dissertation
University:Georgia State UniversityCandidate:Parikh, Mihir AshokchandraFull Text:PDF
GTID:1468390014973495Subject:Business Administration
Abstract/Summary:
Decision support systems (DSSs) are computer-based systems that support the decision-makers in the decision-making processes. Since their conception in the late 1960s, the DSS concept has had a rapid growth in research and in practice. However, a review of recent literature in the DSS area indicates that DSSs have limitations which have restricted the decision-support effectiveness of the systems. The limitations include DSSs have: not supported high level cognitive tasks, not actively participated in the decision-making process, not supported creativity and learning of the decision-maker, focused only on the decision and not on the decision-maker, not changed the support to the characteristics of the task at hand, not used the context of the problem to interpret the output of models or integrated the answers from different models, and had restrictive and inflexible user interfaces.; This research recognizes these limitations and provides a solution to increase the decision-support effectiveness of DSSs. It proposes a technology independent framework for a new type of DSS called adaptive decision support systems (ADSSs). ADSSs are based on the concept of dynamically adapting decision support to the user, the task which the user is currently performing, and the context in which the user is making the decision. The framework clearly defines ADSSs, proposes characteristics of ADSSs, support strategies for adaptive support, and describes an architectural model of ADSSs.; The research further empirically evaluates the effectiveness of ADSSs in a laboratory experiment. The experiment uses a prototype ADSS developed based on the framework and a prototype TDSS. Both prototype systems are designed to assist the users in personal asset allocation decision. One hundred and sixty-three mature, well-experienced, graduate students participated in the experiment. The effectiveness of the systems was measured on nine dimensions. The results suggest that the ADSS is more effective than the TDSS on seven dimensions: quality of the decision, number of alternatives considered, time spent per alternative, learning effects, confidence in the decision, usefulness of the system, satisfaction with the system. The ADSS is equally effective as the TDSS on two dimensions: perceived control of the process and ease of use.
Keywords/Search Tags:Decision support systems, DSS, Framework, Adaptive, Dsss
Related items