Systems analysis, which is also called cost/benefit analysis, the planning-programming-budgeting system, risk analysis, and technology assessment, has become the major planning and policy tool of government at all levels. Indeed, it is still gathering momentum in addressing the uncertainties associated with everything from the safety of nuclear energy to the effects of microelectronics. Examining this phenomenon critically, Ida R. Hoos reviews systems analytic techniques in their own circumscribed, simulated world and in the real one, drawing on a wide range of studies in health, education, welfare, crime, and many other areas of public concern, and giving special attention to information systems and databanks. In a new introduction and a new final chapter, Hoos expands her 1972 discussion to consider the ways in which systems analysis, now dominant, governs our present and determines our future. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1972.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction: The Past as Prologue Reason for the Retrospective, Systems Analysis as Dominant Paradigm, Economics and Cost/Benefit Analysis, Optimization and the Decline of the Business World, The Case of the Costly Mini-Dollar, The Cost of Cost/Beneht Analysis, I. Survey and Perspective, Focus of Research, 2. Systems Approach in Theoretical Perspective, Definitions of "System," Systems Analysis, Systems Engineering, and Systems Management, General System Theory, In Sociology, In Psychology, In Economics. General System Theory as Synergy, 3. Systems Approach in Practical Perspective, Tactical Development of the Techniques, The Pentagon as Paragon, The Techniques at Work in the Civilian Sector, Social Indicators, National Goals, 4. Systems Analysis as Technological Transfer, The "Man on the Moon" Magic, The Doleful Dialectic, Language as Expediter, Economic and Political Factors in the Transfer, Validity of Reasons and Assumptions Underlying the Transfer, The Process of Technological Transfer, 5. The Techniques at Work in Waste Management and Supersonic Transport, Methodology, Methods, and Models, Objectives Defined and Redefined, Cost-Benefit Analysis for War and Peace, Waste Management, Supersonic Transport, 6. The Techniques at Work in Education and Health, The Systems Approach to Education, Education Planning and Manpower Needs, The Goals of Education, Program Performance in Education, Students' Grades as Indices, Technological Devices and Education, Implications of PPBS in Education, Costs, Benefits, and Performance of Health Programs, Doctors and Data Systems, Analysis of Costs and Benefits of Health Care, Health Service Efficiency in Britain, Effectiveness of Disease Control Programs in the U.S., Health Programs for the Poor, 7. Management Information Systems, Management of Information, Information Systems as Part of the Rational Planning Process, The Matter of Facts, Information Systems and Public Welfare, Information Systems and Land Use, Information Systems and Crime, Information Systems and the Invasion of Privacy, 8. Futurology and the Future of Systems Analysis, Forecasting the Future through Systems Techniques, The State-of-the-Art of Futurology, Systems Analysis in Social Perspective, 9. Imprint and Implications of Systems Methodology, Introduction, Cost/Effectiveness in Education, Technology as "Open Sesame" to Efficiency in Education, Technology as Model-Maker, Star Wars and Space Wars: Game and Reality, State of the Nation's Health, Cost/ Effectiveness in the Delivery of Health Care, Information Technology and Health, Public Health Policy Administration and Analysis, Risk and Benefit in Public Health Policy, Risk Analysis. Assessment of Nuclear Risks, Safe Radiation Standards, The Safety Image, Methodology of Risk Analysis, Technology Assessment, Assessment of Information Technology, Worklife-Employment, Unemployment, and Employability, Private Life-Information Technology as Intruder, Quality of Life, Index