Applied models and the use of quantitative techniques

From time to time there appears in the literature a survey of the use of Operational Research OR techniques. Typical conclusions from these surveys are that statistical analysis and simulation are the most used techniques, but that other standard quantitative techniques usually included on Operational Research OR courses appear to be relatively little used. The experience of many practitioners bears this out: ‘We do lots of good work but we hardly ever use the techniques discussed in most Operational Research OR textbooks’. However, the conclusions of such surveys need to be treated with caution since they can easily be criticised on methodological grounds. For example, surveys of identified operational researchers do not reveal what use is being made of Operational Research OR techniques by other groups of people not included in the survey. Another difficulty is defining the nature of a given ‘technique’ and what constitutes use of the technique. In the first place it is important to distinguish between the processes of problem formulation and problem evaluation.