Article ID: | iaor20108837 |
Volume: | 7 |
Issue: | 4 |
Start Page Number: | 346 |
End Page Number: | 357 |
Publication Date: | Dec 2010 |
Journal: | Decision Analysis |
Authors: | Bickel J Eric |
Keywords: | decision theory, education in OR |
Experiential learning is perhaps the most effective way to teach. One example is the scoring procedure used for exams in some decision analysis programs. Under this grading scheme, students take a multiple‐choice exam, but rather than simply marking which answer they think is correct, they must assign a probability to each possible answer. The exam is then scored with a special scoring rule, under which students' best strategy is to avoid guessing and instead assign their true beliefs. Such a scoring function is known as a strictly proper scoring rule. In this paper, we discuss several different scoring rules and demonstrate how their use in testing situations provides insights for both students and instructors.