ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a descriptive overview of the concept of evidence by means of capturing and summarizing its key sets of meaning and usage situations. It proposes an evidence classificatory typology, intended to serve as the foundation for meaningful identification and organizing of distinct types of choice-making-related informational inputs. One of the intellectual foundations of the Western scientific tradition is the reliance on the scientific method, which is a set of procedures consisting of systematic measurement, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses, as the basis of knowledge creation. Originally inspired by the prospect of material reduction in decision-making uncertainty, there is a substantial body of knowledge addressing systematic assimilation of evidence to practice, dating back to the emergence of evidence-based medical practice of early 1990s. The strength of evidence is an important consideration when considering the available and decision-pertinent insights, and it is clearly recognized in the idea of hierarchy of evidence.
