Sources of Decision Failure

This course examines why policy decisions fail, giving students tools to recognize and prevent common analytic and judgment errors across policy analysis, community action, and technology-enabled policy work. Students study cognitive biases, group processes, motivated beliefs, and decision-making flaws, grounded in real-world case studies and literature.

Instruction includes brief lectures, collaborative exercises, debates, and diagnostic frameworks that help students analyze failures, test solutions, and understand constraints. By the end of the course, students detect sources of decision error, apply evidence-based methods to improve outcomes, and produce clear recommendations for navigating complex policy environments.