What is Uncertainty

1.

An operational definition of the gap in knowledge that is the start state for information search. There is a cognitive and an affective component to uncertainty. Learn more in: Information Need and the Beginning of Information Search

2.

Describes any situation without certainty, whether or not described by a probability distribution. Uncertainty is caused by natural variation and/or incomplete knowledge (lack of understanding or insufficient data). Learn more in: Orientism Management Strategy for Training Policy-Makers in Emergency Decision-Making

3.

Describes the condition in which reasonable knowledge regarding risks, benefits, or the future is not available. Learn more in: A TOE Perspective of E-Business Deployment in Financial Firms

4.

The situation where less-than-perfect knowledge exists about a particular problem or decision requirement. There exists a wide variation in terms of degrees of uncertainty from extreme uncertainty (i.e., very limited knowledge of outcomes or likelihood of their occurrence) to near certainty (i.e., almost complete knowledge of the outcomes and the likelihood of occurrence). Generally, an uncertain decision situation refers to one containing ambiguity about part or all of the decision parameters. Learn more in: Risk Management in the Digital Economy

5.

A form of deficiency/imperfection in the information where the truth of information is not established definitely. Learn more in: Semantic Web Uncertainty Management

6.

It is “the absence of perfectly detailed knowledge. Uncertainty includes incertitude (the exact value is not known) and variability (the value is changing). Uncertainty may also include other forms such as vagueness, ambiguity and fuzziness (in the sense of border-line cases)” (Ferson et al., 2004, p. 130). Learn more in: Probabilistic Methods for Uncertainty Quantification

7.

A situation that is not known or the feeling of not being sure what will happen in the future. Learn more in: The Old-Generation School Managers and the New-Generation School Managers From the Aspect of Career Adaptability

8.

The variability introduced into business decision making by fluctuations in factors external to, and beyond the control of, the organisation. Generally caused by aspects of customer behaviour, market dynamics, and competitive forces. Learn more in: The Impact on Decision Making of Centralisation in a Multinational Manufacturing Company: The Materials Purchasing Function

9.

With PROMETHEE, the certainty in the rank position of alternatives, considered through the minimum changes in criteria values to effect an alternatives rank position. Learn more in: PROMETHEE

10.

When the outcomes of investments cannot be estimated in the initial stages, there is uncertainty in the economic environment. Two forms of uncertainty exist, namely, market uncertainty and technical uncertainty. Market uncertainty is exogenous to the investor (e.g., firm) and correlated with economic fundamentals. Technical uncertainty is endogenous and depends on the level of initial investment made. Uncertainty is dynamically evolving and thus affects the evolution of the value of the option through time. Learn more in: Real Options Reasoning as a Tool for Managerial Decision Making

11.

The name for a lack of knowledge that can be addressed by obtaining more information, such as by researching an answer, looking it up in reference materials, or collecting data. Learn more in: Patchwork Prototyping with Open Source Software

12.

Any deviation from the “unachievable ideal of completely deterministic knowledge of the relevant system” ( Walker et al., 2003 ). In order to help policymakers to identify, assess and report uncertainty, it has been defined through a typology, which includes three dimensions of uncertainty, namely, location, nature and level of the uncertainty. Learn more in: Predictive Genetic Testing,Uncertainty, and Informed Consent

13.

The dubiety that can be put on the system, the application or the information in a pervasive grid. Information cannot be accepted without doubt and double checking, redundancy, is often the rule. Learn more in: Pervasive Grids: Challenges and Opportunities

14.

An agent in an uncertain environment does not know of all the parameters within that environment. Learn more in: Bayesian Agent Adaptation in Complex Dynamic Systems

15.

When a feature is not quite deterministic in its occurrence or absence, there could be an associated uncertain reason. The lack of certainty, a state of having limited knowledge where it is impossible to exactly describe the existing state, a future outcome, or more than one possible outcome. Learn more in: Data Guided Public Healthcare Decision Making

16.

Uncertainty means not-certainty; throughout the submergence into the nature of time; namely by folded time and lived time awareness, was discovered that all the “not-words of time”—such as uncertainty, impermanence, indeterminate, incompleteness—are more than negative words. They are a condensation of both the “root” word meaning (positive) and the “no” prefixed word meaning that transform them into the ‘becoming ‘words for the paradoxical nature of time – one that “is” and one that “is not” simultaneously. As Heraclitus states, “We are and we are not.”. Learn more in: Time Operations

17.

When the outcome of an event is uncertain and one doesn’t know all possible outcomes and/or their probabilities, then outcome is said to be uncertain. Learn more in: Social Media Analytics for Maintaining Financial Stability

18.

Difficulty experienced in evaluating the properties and the future of a job. Learn more in: An Exploration of Career Adaptation of Teachers: A Comparison Between Public and Private School Teachers

19.

The state of being uncertain, doubt or hesitancy. It refers also to unpredictability, indeterminacy, indefiniteness, etc. Learn more in: Decision Making Under Uncertainty and Risks in the Face of Rapidly Advancing Technologies