While the study of psychology has offered little in the way of explaining the creative process, Koestler examines the idea that we are at our most creative when rational thought is suspended--for example, in dreams and trancelike states. All who read The Act of Creation will find it a compelling and illuminating book.

The Act of Creation

The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), developed by Saaty in the late 1970s, is one of the methods for multi-criteria decision making. The AHP disaggregates a complex decision problem into different hierarchical levels. The weight for each criterion and alternative are judged in pairwise comparisons and priorities are calculated by the Eigenvector method. The slowly increasing application of the AHP was the motivation for this study to explore the current state of its methodology in the healthcare context. A systematic literature review was conducted by searching the Pubmed and Web of Science databases for articles with the following keywords in their titles or abstracts: “Analytic Hierarchy Process,” “Analytical Hierarchy Process,” “multi-criteria decision analysis,” “multiple criteria decision,” “stated preference,” and “pairwise comparison.” In addition, we developed reporting criteria to indicate whether the authors reported important aspects and evaluated the resulting studies’ reporting. The systematic review resulted in 121 articles. The number of studies applying AHP has increased since 2005. Most studies were from Asia (almost 30 %), followed by the US (25.6 %). On average, the studies used 19.64 criteria throughout their hierarchical levels. Furthermore, we restricted a detailed analysis to those articles published within the last 5 years (n = 69). The mean of participants in these studies were 109, whereas we identified major differences in how the surveys were conducted. The evaluation of reporting showed that the mean of reported elements was about 6.75 out of 10. Thus, 12 out of 69 studies reported less than half of the criteria. The AHP has been applied inconsistently in healthcare research. A minority of studies described all the relevant aspects. Thus, the statements in this review may be biased, as they are restricted to the information available in the papers. Hence, further research is required to discover who should be interviewed and how, how inconsistent answers should be dealt with, and how the outcome and stability of the results should be presented. In addition, we need new insights to determine which target group can best handle the challenges of the AHP.

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Applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process in healthcare research: A systematic literature review and evaluation of reporting.

Research Methods in the Behavioral Sciences.

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2016 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Comparative Demographics Estimates: South Dakota

Visualizing collaborative electronic health record usage for hospitalized patients with heart failure

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the research efficiency of the Chilean higher education institutions (HEIs). As it has been argued in the literature, universities in Chile are far from being considered research-oriented institutions. Current governmental reforms have put pressures on the efficient use of public resources, especially, public expenditures in higher education. In response, the proposed data-driven approach can be used to inform educational managers and policy makers about research efficiency. Therefore, a better allocation of the scarce educational resources can be achieved. Design/methodology/approach – Data envelopment analysis is used to assess the research efficiency of a set of Chilean universities. Four models are proposed based on different parameters to cover various drivers of the research productivity. Findings – The paper provides evidence that only a few universities in Chile are efficient in regards to research. Moreover, interesting results in terms of the diff...

Assessing the research efficiency of higher education institutions in Chile: A data envelopment analysis approach

The Healthcare Systems Engineering program at Johns Hopkins University provides engineers and healthcare professionals with the indepth knowledge and skills necessary to apply systems engineering principles and best practices to address today’s healthcare challenges and create healthcare of the future. Students will be well prepared to re-engineer healthcare delivery on a broad scale by using a systems approach. This approach will lead to solutions that seamlessly integrate technology into the cultural and workflow dynamics prevalent in healthcare, while holistically addressing interoperability, security/ privacy, safety, cost, performance (i.e., outcomes, etc.), and other key requirements.

Healthcare Systems Engineering

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze collaboration networks and their patterns among higher education institutions (HEIs) in Chile and the Latin American region. This will provide evidence to educational managements in order to properly allocate their efforts to improve collaboration. Design/methodology/approach – This quantitative study examines collaboration using a social network analysis (SNA) approach. The main source used to quantify collaboration is co-authorship of scholarly publications retrieved from the Web of Science scientific search engine. Findings – The paper provides evidence that there is a low collaboration rate within-country as well cross-country among HEIs in Latin America. The collaboration network in Chile is highly dependent on two institutions; Pontificia Universidad Catolica and Universidad de Chile. These institutions are considered leaders of opinion and knowledge facilitators. The density of the whole network is relatively low; only 5 percent of the potential con...

Assessing Collaboration Networks in Educational Research: A Co-Authorship-Based Social Network Analysis Approach.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to quantify complexity in translational research. The impact of major operational steps and technical requirements is calculated with respect to their ability to accelerate moving new discoveries into clinical practice. Design/methodology/approach – A three-phase integrated quality function deployment (QFD) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method was used to quantify complexity in translational research. A case study in obesity was used to usability. Findings – Generally, the evidence generated was valuable for understanding various components in translational research. Particularly, the authors found that collaboration networks, multidisciplinary team capacity and community engagement are crucial for translating new discoveries into practice. Research limitations/implications – As the method is mainly based on subjective opinion, some argue that the results may be biased. However, a consistency ratio is calculated and used as a guide to subjectivity. Alternative...

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Quantifying complexity in translational research: an integrated approach

Purpose




The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the efficiency of secondary education schools in Chile. Since the early 1980s, several educational reforms have been passed with the main objective of improving the quality, equity and efficiency of the Chilean education system. This has initiated a debate about the efficient use of public educational resources. In response, this study provides insights into identifying the most efficient types of schools based on a set of different inputs and outputs.




Design/methodology/approach




This quantitative research study used data envelopment analysis (DEA), which estimates a single index of efficiency to identify schools performing at superior levels compared to other schools with similar characteristics. Two sets of models are created for evaluating efficiency. The first set of analyses provides a longitudinal efficiency comparison based on student performance on two national standardized tests as outputs, and the second model incorporates socioeconomic characteristics of students attending different schools as inputs in the efficiency estimation.




Findings




Based on the longitudinal models, it was found that private schools are more efficient and more consistent in maintaining their efficiency over time than other types of schools. In addition, when accounting for socioeconomic factors, publicly subsidized schools were more efficient than public schools.




Practical implications




The Chilean parliament is currently discussing new educational reforms that focus on more efficient use of educational resources to improve educational quality and equity. The results provided in this study generate useful evidence for policymakers and other stakeholders regarding school efficiency and the appropriate allocation of public resources to support diverse students served by different types of secondary educational institutions.




Social implications




Education is a key factor affecting social mobility and socioeconomic improvement of societies. Schools are called upon to improve their performance to promote these social goals. Accordingly, more novel forms of research on efficiency are necessary to assess how well schools are transforming their inputs into performance outputs.




Originality/value




This study provides a longitudinal analysis of educational efficiency using DEA with a national data set of Chilean schools to evaluate how consistent the schools are in maintaining their levels of efficiency over time. In addition, one DEA model accounts for a social “vulnerability” index at the student level to better understand how efficiently secondary schools use their resources. The insights gained provide data-driven answers to support more informed educational decision-making and policy processes in Chile.

David A. Muñoz

Papers

Assessing the research efficiency of higher education institutions in Chile: A data envelopment analysis approach

Healthcare Systems Engineering

Assessing Collaboration Networks in Educational Research: A Co-Authorship-Based Social Network Analysis Approach.

Quantifying complexity in translational research: an integrated approach

Assessing the efficiency of secondary schools in Chile: a data envelopment analysis