Talk:Decision analysis and risk management 2013/Homework

Homework 1: compilation of answers

1. What is the main purpose of environmental health assessment?
   • environmental health assessment is a tool which is used for decision making in order to analyse environmental issues and model those factors which affect the human health. in other words environmental assessment talks about actions and decisions that required to be done by decision makers to carry out the appropriate scientific knowledge and has got the a big impact on the environment health.
   • So as to provide vital information for decision makers. So as to assess the characteristics of human activity.
   • To improve deliberate plans of actions that guide decisions aiming for desired outcomes using knowledge provided by environmental health research and considering how different decisions and actions influence the environmental-health relationship.
   • The main purpose of environmental health assessments is to implement scientific base actions and support decisions on various environmental and health issues.
   • The main purpose of environmental health assessment is that decision makers would make that kind of decisions which improve humans´ health.
   • The main purpose of environmental health assessment is to apply information which is provided by environmental researches, to make models and calculations how decisions and actions affect to human health and nature. Environmental health assessment is done to support policy making and to ensure that decisions are knowledge-based and that the outcome is wanted.
   • To enhace health and well-being in society in a way that is also economically reasonable. To collect all the necessary information (and more) together e.g. for decision making
   • To improve delibrate plan of actions that guide decisions aiming for desired outcomes.
   • The purpose of environmental health assessments is to implement science-base support to decisions on issues of the environment and health relevance.
   • The purpose of environmental health assessment is to improve deliberate plans of actions that guide decisions aiming for desired outcomes. There are several different types of assessment approaches that address issues relevant to environment and health. These approaches have certain differences e.g. in emphasis, scope, theoretical basis, and context of development and application, but they all share the basic idea of science-based support for decision making on issues of societal relevance.
   • The main purpose is to improve deliberate plans of actions that guide decisions aiming for desired outcomes.
   • Purpose of environmental health assessment is to provide information for policy making. This is done using information obtained from environmental health research and considering how environmental-health relationship is affected by different actions and decisions. Environmental health assessment guides and offers plans for decision making to achieve the ideal outcome.
   • It forms a basis in characterization of our living environments. It analyses and models how our living environments affect human health. It considers how different decisions and actions influence the environment-health relationships. Information gathered from environmental health assessment is intended to support knowledge-based decisions and actions particularly in public policy and also by decision-makers in business and individual members of the society.
   • The main aim of environmental health assessment is to provide science based information in the process of decision making.
   • My answer: The main purpose of environmental health assessment is to to improve deliberate plans of actions that guide decisions aiming for desired outcomes (cf. Jones 2009). Its could also serve to provide provide science-based support to decisions on issues of societal relevance. It also aims at helping knowledge-based decisions and actions in business and among individual members of the society.
   • Environmental health assessment considers the changes that different decisions can influence on environment health.
2. What is pragmatism?
   • is an idea which is used in environmental health risk assessment to merge the knowledge, innovation and practice according to people' thoughts and ideas in order to decide what actions have to be taken. in fact it is one part of the social process to use the knowledge in our everyday life.
   • Pragmatism (as defined by Charles Sanders Peirce and James Dewey) means that theory and practice are not perceived as separate entities, but instead the question in consideration is whether practices are intelligent or uninformed. Knowledge and action are thus seen as deeply intertwined.
   • Pragmatism is that theory and practice are not considered as two different entities but instead we have to think decisions and practices and think if they are sensible. Therefore theory and practice are intertwined.
   • a practical way to utilize information in reality
   • Applying scientific knowledge and means for supporting the practical needs of decision making upon socially relevant issues related to environment and health.
   • It means that theory and practice are not perceived as separate entities, but instead the question in consideration is whether practices are intelligent or uninformed. Knowledge and action are thus seen as deeply intertwined.
   • Pragmatism is an approach that emphasizes the linking between practice and theory. Knowledge and action are closely intertwined. The validation of a theory depends on its practical verification: in this sense, knowledge can be seen as a tool for action.
   • Pragmatism means that theory and practice are not separated or be seen as detached concept but instead of that they are seen compined subject which is strongly intertwined. For environmental health assessment this means that it through theory and to practice society's health and well being is improved.
   • As referred to in the thesis is the knowledge-practice interaction or the practicality of applying scientific knowledge and means for supporting the needs of decision making upon societal relevant issues related to environment and health from the reports of environmental health assessment.
   • It is a collective knowledge creation process where issues of knowledge, innovation and practice are integrated through participation. This is achieved by continuously construct and re-construct the social meanings that shape our thoughts and actions.
   • My answer: In this context,pragmatism briefly means that theory and practice are not separate entities, but are deeply intertwined. Pragmatism in this context, could therefore be said to mean the combination of knowledge (theory) and practice solely on their practical influence on issues of the environment and health.
3. What are the main differences between regulatory and academic assessment approaches? Give examples of each.
4. What are the main differences between traditional and novel assessment approaches? Give examples of each.
5. What are the main differences between open assessment and most other assessment approaches?
   • It considers assessment as open collaborative process of creating shared knowledge and understanding.
6. What is benefit-risk assessment?
   • A science-based process where the benefits and risks for humans following exposure (or lack of exposure) are estimated qualitatively or quantitatively. It includes also the potential to integrate the estimates in to comparable measures.
   • Benefit–risk assessment (of Food and Nutrition) comprises a science-based process intended to qualitatively or quantitatively estimate the benefits and risks for humans following exposure (or lack of exposure) to a particular food or food component and includes the potential to integrate them into comparable measures.
   • Benefit-risk assessment is a certain kind of assessment type in which pros and cons of a phenomenon are studies. For example, eating fish due to its positive health effects (vitamin D, soft fats) is a better choice compared to a situation where people don´t eat fish due to its high concentration of environmental pollutants.
   • Benefit-risk assessment is needed when benefits of the decision are not so clearly bigger that risk. Benefit-risk assessment is needed to clear the situation and to weight the benefits and risk that decisions can be made.
   • As referred to in the thesis give guidance in decision situations where benefits do not clearly prevail over risks with the aim of increased engagement and communication between assessors, managers, and stakeholders.
7. What is impact assessment?
   • evaluation of all environmental factors that can have a big impact on the environment as well as living creatures and vegetation called impact assessment. in this topic social as well as economic factors must be taken into account. when some projects are about to be implemented decision makers and environmentalist must consider these factors to make sure that there is no threat for human and environment health and for society.
   • The process of evaluating potential impacts for example in the society i,e health, environment, or economy.
   • The purpose of an impact assessment is to evaluate all potential environmental impacts of a proposed large-scale project. The assessment should take into account health, environmental and social impacts as well as technical and economical issues. Problem owners are the ones with the intent to plan and execute the project and they have the legal obligation to initiate the assessment process. The impact assessment process addresses questions related to potential impacts of planned projects on human and animal health and well-being, environment (e.g. soil, water, air, climate, and vegetation), composition of society (e.g. building, landscape, cultural heritage) and exploitation of natural resources.
   • In impact assessment the purpose is to evaluate the impact, for example what kind of impacts some environmental thing has. There are also directives that control how the impact assessment is done, for example some EU-directives.
   • This can be defined as a structured process aimed at development, implementing and considering impacts of policy decisions
   • Is a combination of procedures, methods and tools for judging the potential health effects of a policy, program or project on a population, particularly on vulnerable or disadvantaged groups. Hence, it is a tool to dynamically improve health and well-being across sectors.
   • Impact assessment is the assessment of various public and private projects on the environment.
   • It is a framework that serves for the consideration of environmental issues in decisions and activities of wide societal relevance.
   • My answer: Health Impact Assessment is a combination of procedures, methods and tools for judging the potential health effects of a policy, program or project on a population, particularly on vulnerable or disadvantaged groups (World Health Organization 1999, http://www.who.int/hia/en/. The purpose of Health impact assessment is to inform decision makers about the potential health effects of a policy, program or project, particularly on vulnerable or disadvantaged population groups, and to provide recommendations for maximizing the proposal’s positive and minimizing the negative health effects. It also aims at addressing inequalities in the potential health impacts and to promote joined-up working and participation.
8. What different purposes are there for participation in assessment and/or decision making?
   • There can be many different purposes in participation regarding to environmental health assessment. Few main purposes for participation can be: influence assessment and their outputs, influence policy decisions and influencing policy making from outside the policy making structures. These are just few main purposes and in reality there often is many sub-purposes inside these. Different ways of participation are not often exclusive, but instead they interact with each other.
9. What are the dimensions of openness?
   1. Scope of participation, referring to who are allowed to participate in the process.
   2. Access to information, referring to what information regarding the issue at hand is made available to participants.
   3. Timing of openness, referring to when participants are invited or allowed to participate.
   4. Scope of contribution, referring to which aspects of the issue at hand participants are invited or allowed to contribute to.
   5. Impact of contribution, referring to what extent are participant contributions allowed to have influence on the outcomes, i.e. how much weight is given to participant contributions.
   • The phases of open assessment process resemble those of most assessment approaches: (1) issue framing, (2) designing variables, (3) executing variables and analyses, and (4) reporting, through which the process progresses in iterative cycles. It considers assessments as open collaborative processes of creating shared knowledge and understanding. Openness means welcoming all types of knowledge, possessed by all kinds of actors and found from all types of sources, into a systematic analysis. Exclusion of participants or inputs is allowed only based on well-argued, explicated and cogent reasons. The open process brings scientific experts, decision makers, and stakeholders to the same collaborative process.
10. What relevant stakeholder roles are there in environmental health assessment and related decision making
    • They are the central topics in environmental health assessment and policy. Good for improving policy making. Openness brings some practical challenges in to the decision making process challenges in which every individual has chance to participate.
11. What is effectiveness in the context of environmental health assessment and related decision making?
12. What is the trialogical approach to knowledge creation and learning?
    • The trialogical approach is a new framework developed on the contest of collaborative learning, based on three basic metaphors of learning (acquisition, participation and knowledge-creation) associated with three different processes: one monological, within mind approach; another one dialogical, following an interaction approach through communication and participation; one more trialogical which develops shared artefacts and practices collaboratively.
    • It is an approach to knowledge creation and learning which is applied especially in the context of computer-supported collaborative learning. It emphasizes the role of collaborative development and reconstruction of concrete, shared artefacts in mediating knowledge creation, as well as reflecting and transforming knowledge practices, the ways of collaboratively working with knowledge, with supporting processes, and executing knowledge tasks.
13. What is decision support?
14. What is a pragmatic knowledge service?
15. What is collaboration?
    • It is a process of sharing ones (idea, potential ,or interest) to other
    • Collaboration is working together in order to create something.In environmental health assessments collaboration between e.g. scientists and decision-makers is vital since without it it´s difficult to get desired results improving human health.
    • to share information and knowledge of ones expertise and to work together for a common goal
16. What are the properties of good assessment?
    • A good assessment should have nine different properties that can be categorized into 3 groups. The first group refers to the quality of content, so the features of the information content in the assessment output and includes informativeness, calibration, coherence. The second one takes into account the applicability of the assessment and consists of relevance, availability, usability and acceptability. Finally, the third group concerns the efficiency that has to characterize the process and includes the efficiencies both intra- and inter-assessement.
17. What is the role of modelling in assessment and policy making?
18. What parts does the framework for effective assessment and knowledge-based policy consist of?
19. What does it mean that the results of assessments can be considered intentional artifacts?