I am of the belief that not many moments pass by where we seasoned adults are not grappling with some degree of decision making task. Whether it’s for personal, financial, professional, medical, or any otherwise purpose, the drudgery of and uncertainty in decision making processes are a reality that we will need to toil with every single day.
In fact, I was reflecting just this morning on how my own personal decision making processes have evolved and changed as I have aged. Gone are the days, for instance, where I nonchalantly grab a bite to eat or just skip meals all together. Food decision processes now start out with me mulling over food content considerations of fiber, sugar, carbohydrates, protein and the like. And, to that pondering I also add contemplating what after meal activities I intend to engage in. It’s a change in practice, indeed.
Good Thing We Have Statistics
Interesting thing is that we have the privilege of knowing about the impact of food choice and other decisions on our health in large part due to the investigative work of some really smart statistically trained folks. I am able to benefit, from engaging in my own personal decision making processes, due to the analyses performed over large quantities of data generated from the experiences of other people. How amazing that is!
Among other things, statistics is concerned with helping us to effectively engage in enhanced decision making processes. The enhancements offer us hope that we’ll fair better in our attempts to gauge the impacts of decision making beyond what we might be able to discern if we simply guessed. Much of what we understand about the impact of food choices was uncovered well before our current big data AI technology era. What more we will learn, from here on, is going to be interesting to observe for sure.
Statistics Aren’t Meant to Prove
Even so, those who honestly communicate the findings from any sized statistical data investigation are not attempting to represent their findings as absolute truth or guaranteed proof of decision making outcomes. At minimum, we’re hoping that we can use what we learn from statistical findings to make reasonable and meaningful projections about what may likely occur. However as seasoned adults we’ve been around long enough to know that decisions, arising out of our best personal data deliberations, don’t always result to desired conclusions.
So, even as we embrace the advent of modern statistical analysis capabilities, we should consider keeping in mind what we have intuitively come to understand about decision outcome uncertainty. This openness in thought I believe is particularly needed given that so many aspects of our societal decision making is becoming more and more big data driven. That is, it’s likely going to be more important than ever for seasoned adults to evolve an understanding of fundamental statistical practices. This could be beneficial and work towards helping us to become better consumers of modern statistical investigative findings.
Data driven decision making is here to stay, my friends, and will surely be used to drive decision making within areas that are important to servicing our needs.
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