Hypothesis generation for management intelligence

Investigation of the role of hypothesis formation in complex (business) problem solving has resulted in a new approach to hypothesis generation. A prototypical hypothesis generation paradigm for management intelligence has been developed, reflecting a widespread need to support management in such areas as fraud detection and intelligent decision making. This thesis presents this new paradigm and its application to goal directed problem solving methodologies, including case based reasoning. The hypothesis generation model, which is supported by a dynamic hypothesis space, consists of three components -anomaly detection, abductive reasoning, and conflict resolution modelling.