Guidance on the use of the weight of evidence approach in scientific assessments

Hardy, Anthony; Benford, Diane; Halldorsson, Thorhallur; Jeger, Michael John; Knutsen, Helle Katrine; More, Simon; Naegeli, Hanspeter; Noteborn, Hubert; Ockleford, Colin; Ricci, Antonia; Rychen, Guido; Schlatter, Josef R; Silano, Vittorio; Solecki, Roland; Turck, Dominique; Benfenati, Emilio; Chaudhry, Qasim Mohammad; Craig, Peter; Frampton, Geoff; Greiner, Matthias; Hart, Andrew; Hogstrand, Christer; Lambre, Claude; Luttik, Robert; Makowski, David; Siani, Alfonso; Wahlstroem, Helene; Aguilera, Jaime; Dorne, Jean‐Lou; Fernandez Dumont, Antonio; Hempen, Michaela; Valtueña Martínez, Silvia; Martino, Laura; Smeraldi, Camilla; Terron, Andrea; Georgiadis, Nikolaos; Younes, Maged

Abstract

EFSA requested the Scientific Committee to develop a guidance document on the use of the weight of evidence approach in scientific assessments for use in all areas under EFSA's remit. The guidance document addresses the use of weight of evidence approaches in scientific assessments using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Several case studies covering the various areas under EFSA's remit are annexed to the guidance document to illustrate the applicability of the proposed approach. Weight of evidence assessment is defined in this guidance as a process in which evidence is integrated to determine the relative support for possible answers to a question. This document considers the weight of evidence assessment as comprising three basic steps: (1) assembling the evidence into lines of evidence of similar type, (2) weighing the evidence, (3) integrating the evidence. The present document identifies reliability, relevance and consistency as three basic considerations for weighing evidence.

Citation

Hardy, A., Benford, D., Halldorsson, T., Jeger, M. J., Knutsen, H. K., More, S., …Younes, M. (2017). Guidance on the use of the weight of evidence approach in scientific assessments. EFSA Journal, 15(8), Article e04971. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4971

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 12, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Aug 3, 2017
• Publication Date: Aug 3, 2017
• Deposit Date: Aug 18, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 20, 2017
• Journal: EFSA Journal
• Print ISSN: 1831-4732
• Publisher: Wiley Open Access
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 15
• Issue: 8
• Article Number: e04971
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4971
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1351788