Outcome

1) The outcome is the state of the world after all decisions and uncertainties have been resolved (ie, when an alternative has been selected for each decision variable and each uncertain variable has taken a particular value). In decision analysis, an outcome is described in terms of attributes about which the decision-maker has direct preferences. For instance, while a businessman about to introduce a new product would like to have a large market share, what he ultimately cares about is profits, on which he has a direct preference. (He only has an indirect preference on market share.) An important element of the philosophy of decision analysis is a distinction between decisions (or actions) under uncertainty and their corresponding outcomes. Thus, when decisions are made under uncertainty, a good (bad) decision does not guarantee—or necessarily increase (decrease) the likelihood of—a good (bad) outcome, and vice versa.

2) The term outcome is also used in a more restricted sense to denote the possible ways an uncertain variable can be resolved.