Toolcatalogus

Sorts and locations of uncertainty addressed

The different qualifiers in the NUSAP system address different sorts of uncertainty. The Spread qualifier addresses statistical uncertainty (inexactness) in quantities, typically in input data and parameters. The Assessment qualifier typically addresses unreliability. The Pedigree criterion further qualifies the knowledge base in such a way that it explores the border with ignorance by providing detailed insights in specific weaknesses in the knowledge base that underpins a given quantity.

Most of the pedigree assessments in the literature so far have addressed uncertainties located in "inputs" and "parameters", thereby focusing on the internal strength of the knowledge base. Recently Corral (2000) in his Ph.D. thesis extended the pedigree scheme to also address uncertainties located in the "socio political context", focusing on the external strength (its relations with the worlds outside the science) of the knowledge base. Criteria that Corral used to assess the pedigree of the processes of knowledge utilization and institutional context of the analysts were inter alia: Accessibility, Terminology, Completeness, Source of information, Verification, Colleague consensus, Extended peer acceptance, Legitimation, Experience, Flexibility. NUSAP can also be used to assess issues of value ladenness (see the entry "A method for critical review of assumptions in model-based assessments" in this tool catalogue).