Scientific Decision-Making Survey

Adopting a scientific approach to management isn’t just about collecting more data or running more experiments. It’s about creating a decision-making culture that embraces curiosity, challenges assumptions, and learns continuously from evidence

Responses

CEOs, Presidents, and Board of Directors

Large companies

Does Thinking Scientifically matter?

Firms that apply Scientific Decision-Making show higher performance growth

In an increasingly uncertain and competitive business landscape, many of today’s successful companies stand out not just because they make bold decisions, but because they make informed, systematically tested decisions

A growing body of research demonstrates that when managers adopt a scientific approach to decision-making, their organizations have higher performance.

See here two Harvard Business Review articles that briefly explain this research.

Founders, Apply the Scientific Method to Your Startup

Why Entrepreneurs Should Think Like Scientists

What is Scientific Decision-Making?

What you will get

By responding only a few questions, you will be able to find out how your organization is doing in terms of decision-making

Exclusive access to SDA content on Decision-Making

Benchmark report for your firm

An opportunity to improve your organization’s Decision-Making

Learn about your personal Decision-Making style

Process of participating:

Get an email from our Project Manager, Olivia Marques

Prepare the list of participants

Send out the survey internally to your employees

Aim for the highest possible response rate from individuals in your firm

After completion, we will give you access to SDA content, and the analysis of the data you provided

How do we measure Scientific Decision-Making?

This survey is part of an ongoing research by IMSL lab from SDA-Bocconi University

Great leaders think like scientists

Successful decision-makers cultivate a “spirit of inquiry”, combining hypothesis-driven thinking with empirical testing—just as scientists do. (Bennis, 1962)

You’re shaping the future of decision-making

John Dewey emphasized that the scientific habit of mind is essential for progress and innovation. By participating in this research, you contribute to advancing practical frameworks that will help managers like you navigate uncertainty more effectively.

From intuition to structured learning

Too often, businesses rely on trial and error or gut instinct.
Our research aims to quantify and refine the best decision-making strategies—ensuring that your organization makes choices based on validated insights, not guesswork.

Arnaldo Camuffo

Professor, Bocconi University. Italy

Alfonso Gambardella

Professor, Bocconi University. Italy

Thomaz Teodorovicz

Professor, Copenhagen Business School. Denmark

Your contribution matters.

By taking part in this survey, you’re helping to shape a more rigorous, evidence-based approach to managerial decision-making—one that blends creativity with structure, intuition with analysis, and strategy with adaptability.

Your experiences and insights will fuel cutting-edge research—helping organizations worldwide make smarter, more scientifically informed decisions.

Join us in shaping the future of decision-making.

By participating in the SDM survey, you help refine this
research-based framework. Your input aids in understanding how organizations worldwide navigate complex decisions, fostering better management practices and more sustainable strategic outcomes.