AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF THE UTILITY OF THE DECISION INFORMATION DISPLAY SYSTEM FOR DECISION MAKING AND POLICY ANALYSIS

The Decision Information Display System (DIDS) is an interactive, computerized graphics display system which produces colored maps on a terminal screen and prints or phototransparencies. Designed to assist policy makers, its data base contains geobased, statistical data from Federal and state agencies. The research addressed questions as to how and to what extent DIDS may have contributed to decision making and policy analyses. The main thesis was that DIDS enables users to obtain and analyze new information, primarily in the intelligence stage of decision making, and that it also increased their understanding of geobased data, and the capability to communicate spatially-oriented information. The author studied ten cases in which the system was used. An interview guide, comprised of questions based on experience and the literature on decision-making processes and decision support systems, was employed to obtain information for testing four hypotheses related to the main thesis. Six hypotheses were tested to describe the users and their organizational support, to categorize decision-making functions, and to determine DIDS' utility for policy analysis. The studies indicate that analysts and middle-level managers were its foremost direct users, although top-level managers did examine some of the hard-copy maps produced by the system. Most analysts gained some new insights or confirmed their hypotheses; and in certain cases, information influenced decision making. DIDS demonstrated the potential to contribute to the intelligence stage of decision making in strategic planning applications, as well as issues involving the equitable distribution of policy variables. The technology can also enhance the mixed-scanning approach to policy analysis proposed by Amitai Etzioni. The studies also showed that the utility of the system was very sensitive to data availability, timeliness, accuracy, documentation, aggregation levels, and processes for entry of data to the data base. Several users needed statistical capabilities which were available later in the system development. Users found the capabilities for color, on-line adjustment of levels on the maps legend, the enlarged display of specific regions, and the very rapid comparison of variables using bivariate maps, to be helpful for both analyses and communications.