Some of the respondents used formal priority setting processes while others did not, but results are not differentiated between those two groups making it impossible to measure the association between the use of formal priority setting processes and satisfaction with resource allocation decisions made.
These methods may be fully formal, such as the use of formal specification languages and refinement processes, or they may be totally informal, such as jotting design ideas down on paper prior to coding, or they may be somewhere in between these two extremes.
This paper shows an example of developing a fusion system in a formal framework, i.e., through the use of formal operators in the development process.
Fidler [ 117], for example, defines GHG as "the use of formal and informal institutions, rules, and processes by states, intergovernmental organizations, and nonstate actors to deal with challenges to health that require cross-border collective action to address effectively".
This is an interesting and clinically relevant approach to the question of central pain contribution, providing support to the notion that patients with greater central pain sensitivity could be identified in routine care settings, without the use of formal pain threshold testing or other processes that would typically be utilized in research.
Fidler closely follows this when he defines global health governance as referring 'to the use of formal and informal institutions, rules, and processes by states, intergovernmental organizations, and non-state actors to deal with challenges to health that require cross-border collective action to address effectively' (5).
In the former, existing relationships and history of working can shape the way in which commissioning / contracting is undertaken with less formal processes, flexible timetables and little use of formal penalties.
Lessons can be taken forward from this study concerning the need to use a formal process of achieving consensus as well as the resources required to undertake this work and achieving a balance of clinical panel membership across disciplines and areas of expertise.
It is well-known that the use of formal methods in the software development process results in high-quality software products.
Second, we have shown how the recreation of a public/private divide within the research process through the use of formal procedures reinforces hierarchical research relationships, disrupting and constraining the ability of researchers and their participants to perform rapport and trust within the research relationship.
