Acquiring and Assessing Knowledge From Multiple Experts Using Graphical Representations

This chapter presents a thorough review of current practice in eliciting, representing and amalgamating knowledge from multiple experts, with a focus on the use of graphical representations to support the process. The important points of the discussion are illustrated by presenting a specific methodology for eliciting and combining knowledge from multiple experts. This methodology provides a statistically defensive summarization for assessment. The results of a pilot test of its implementation over the Internet are also presented. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the need for knowledge acquisition techniques that permit quantitative assessment of the quality of the rules developed based upon the acquired knowledge and subsequently embedded in decision support systems.