Value of information

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Revision as of 12:23, 27 January 2009 by Jouni (talk | contribs) (changed into a method)
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Value of information (VOI) in decision analysis is the amount a decision maker would be willing to pay for information prior to making a decision.[1]<section end=glossary />

Scope

How can value of information be calculated?

Definition

Input

To calculate value of information, you need

  • a decision to be made,
  • an outcome indicator to be optimised,
  • an optimising function to be used as the criterion for the best decision,
  • an uncertain variable of interest (optional, needed only if partial VOI is calculated for the variable)

Output

Value of information, i.e. the amount of money that the decision-maker is willing, in theory, to pay to obtain a piece of information.

Rationale

Result

VOI = E(Max(U(di,θ))) - Max(E(U(di,θ))), 

where E=expectation over uncertain parameters θ, Max=maximum over decision options i, U=utility of decision d.

Management

References