Doctoral Dissertation Research: Building and Testing Models of Decision Making in Plural System Contexts

夏威夷大学博士生阿什利沃恩，由杰弗里白色博士监督，将进行决策过程的动态研究，在社会背景下，西方和非西方的替代品。目的是通过建立多元、统计和人种学决策树模型，阐明决策的地方和科学方法。这项研究的首要问题是，当有多种医疗系统和选择时，人们如何做出治疗选择？ 沃恩将把她的研究重点放在与瓦努阿图共和国疟疾感染的预防，诊断和治疗有关的决策上。瓦努阿图是一个特别适合进行决策研究的地方，因为该国长期以来疟疾发病率很高，而且该国开展了一场保护和恢复传统知识和生活方式，包括治疗传统的全国运动。初步研究表明，瓦努阿图居民经常联合收割机结合生物医学、传统和宗教治疗。研究者将使用两种模型来研究行为：人种学决策模型和多元社会行为模型。将通过参与者观察、半结构化和结构化访谈、认知方法（堆排序、共识建模）和调查收集数据，以确定影响治疗选择的政治、经济和社会文化因素。 这项研究是重要的，因为它将有助于社会科学理论和民族志决策模型与多元统计模型相结合的新方法的发展。尽管采取了多种公共卫生干预措施，但研究结果将有助于关注瓦努阿图疟疾持续存在的决策者。资助这项研究也支持研究生的教育。

University of Hawai'i doctoral student Ashley Vaughan, supervised by Dr. Geoffrey White, will undertake research on the dynamics of decision-making processes in social contexts where both western and non-western alternatives are available. The aim is to elucidate both local and scientific approaches to decision-making by building multivariate, statistical and ethnographic decision tree models. The overarching question of the research is how do people make treatment choices when there are multiple medical systems and options? Vaughan will focus her research on decisions related to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of malarial infection in the Republic of Vanuatu. Vanuatu is an especially appropriate site for decision making research because it long has high rates of malaria, and it has experienced a national movement to protect and revive traditional knowledge and ways of life, including healing traditions. Preliminary research has shown that Vanuatu residents frequently combine biomedical, traditional, and religious treatments. The researcher will examine behavior using two kinds of models: ethnographic decision modes and multivariate socio-behavioral models. Data will be collected through participant observation, semi-structured and structured interviews, cognitive methods (pile sorts, consensus modeling), and surveys to identify political, economic, and socio-cultural factors influencing treatment selection. The research is important because it will contribute to social science theory and the development of new ways of combining ethnographic decision models with multivariate statistical models. Findings from the research will be useful for policy makers concerned with the persistence of malaria in Vanuatu, despite multiple public health interventions. Funding this research also supports the education of a graduate student.