INFORMATION OVERLOAD - PEACE OR WAR WITH THE COMPUTER - SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT 11

• NCJ Number: 13246
• Author(s): L T WILKINS
• Date Published: 1973
• Length: 38 pages
• Grant Number(s): 72-NI-99-0017; NI-71-080
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Justice; US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Corporate Author: National Council on Crime and Delinquency
• Publication Format: Document
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

DISCUSSION OF PROBLEMS AND LIMITATIONS OF USING COMPUTERIZED INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS TO AID HUMAN DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES IN PAROLE DECISIONS.

Abstract

EXPERIMENTS ARE CITED TO SHOW THAT THERE ARE IMPORTANT PROBLEMS WITH REGARD TO HUMAN DECISION-MAKING WHICH ARE RELATED TO THE SUBJECTIVE PROCESSING OF THE DATA. AS A RESULT, DIFFERENT DECISION-MAKERS USING A COMPUTERIZED INFORMATION SYSTEM GEARED TO INDIVIDUAL CASE MATERIAL WOULD USE THE SYSTEM IN DIFFERENT WAYS AND WITH DIFFERENT RESULTS. ALSO, SINCE A SUBJECTIVE ASSESSMENT STILL ULTIMATELY TERMINATES THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS, THE QUESTION OF USING ALL RELEVANT INFORMATION IS NOT SOLVED SIMPLY BECAUSE THE INFORMATION IS PRESENTED BY A COMPUTER. FURTHER EXPERIMENTS HAVE, IN FACT, SHOWN THAT THE QUANTITY, SEQUENCE, AND FORM OF INFORMATION PRESENTED TO DECISION-MAKERS ARE LIKELY TO INFLUENCE THE DECISIONS IRRESPECTIVE OF THE CONTENT. THE REPORT CONCLUDES THAT IT IS TOO SIMPLISTIC TO BELIEVE THAT ALL DECISION-MAKING PROBLEMS WOULD BE SOLVED IF ONLY ALL THE INFORMATION WERE READILY AVAILABLE.