Important

An element of a decision is important in the context of the decision if the decision-maker’s welfare is sensitive to the value of that element. Importance is a fundamental concept in decision analysis: while people have an outstanding ability to identify numerous features of the world that are in some way related to a given decision, they are demonstrably poor at identifying the few of those features that are important enough to warrant further attention. Decision analysis provides excellent assistance in focusing the decision-participants’ attention on the decision’s important elements. Materiality is a closely-related concept. A related decision element is immaterial if it is obvious that the decision cannot be sensitive to that element’s value.

See also: attention-focusing method, decision basis, decision context, decision method, relevant and sensitivity analysis.