RAPID: Modeling Communication Management and Trust Networks in Ebola Response in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Region

这项快速反应研究赠款(RAPID)的总体目标是收集针对埃博拉病毒而发展和解散的特别合作的短暂数据。了解协作和信息交换的性质有助于设计危机沟通系统，帮助地方政府组织更好地为突发事件做好准备。项目活动还将促进对城市治理和应急组织如何接收和传达风险信息以解决保护行动困境的了解，特别是在大流行病爆发期间。调查结果将与该地区的急救人员分享。这反过来将影响居住在达拉斯-沃斯堡(DFW)地区的640多万公民。除了促进本科生和研究生的教学、培训和学习，这项研究还为博士生提供了实地研究、数据收集、编码、分析和出版经验。通过利用公共管理硕士以及应急管理和规划项目的大量校友网络的知识，该项目还将满足该大学成为地区研究领导者和为解决社会问题做出贡献的目标。基于机构集体行动框架，第一个目标是调查DFW地区城市管理者、第一反应者和关键医疗保健人员在应对埃博拉病毒时出现的临时沟通和信任网络。目前，还没有关于组织层面应对埃博拉病毒的研究。以前的学者通常使用公共来源来绘制恐怖组织网络图；其他学者则使用详细说明准备计划的官方文件的内容分析来绘制组织间协作的类型/模式，并将此类交互和协作描述为隐喻。然而，由于信息不完整和媒体框架和报道中的偏见，这种数据收集和分析技术充满了局限性。大众媒体也很少注意到临时合作对个别组织的有意义的好处。利用社会网络分析，我们试图调查具有强烈归属感的紧密联系的社区组织是否可以增强单个组织获取广泛附加信息的能力。第二个目标是检查与这些网络结构的风险沟通和保护行动决策相关的“结果”。数据收集将通过40次对应急管理协调员的面对面半结构化访谈进行，然后对300至350个应急机构进行邮寄调查。这项研究将导致至少两份同行评议的出版物、三份在自然灾害和应用研讨会、美国公共行政学会以及区域应急管理人员和活跃在灾害中的志愿组织(VOAD)会议上的报告。

The general aim of this Grant for Rapid Response Research (RAPID) is to collect ephemeral data of ad hoc collaborations developing and dissolving in response to Ebola. Capturing the nature of collaboration and information exchanged can assist in designing a crisis communication system that will help local government organizations be better prepared for surprise events. The project activities will also advance the state of knowledge of how city governance and emergency response organizations receive and communicate risk information to solve protective action dilemmas, especially during a pandemic outbreak. The findings will be shared with the first responders in the region. This will in turn impact a larger population of over 6.4 million citizens who reside in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) region. In addition to advancing undergraduate and graduate teaching, training, and learning, the study provides a doctoral student with field research, data collection, coding, analysis, and publication experience. By leveraging the knowledge of a large network of alumni from the Master of Public Administration and the Emergency Administration and Planning programs, will also meet the university's goals of being a regional leader in research and contributing to solving societal problems.Based on the Institutional Collective Action framework, the first objective is to investigate the ad hoc communication and trust networks that have emerged in responding to Ebola between city managers, first responders, and key health care personnel in the DFW region. Currently, there are no studies of Ebola response at the organizational level. Previous scholars generally used public sources to map terrorist organizations networks; others employed content analysis of official documents detailing preparedness planning to map the type/patterns of interorganizational collaboration, and described such interactions and collaborations as metaphors. However, such techniques of data collection and analysis are fraught with limitations due to incomplete information and biases in media framing and reporting. The meaningful benefits of ad hoc collaborations to individual organizations are also seldom noted by the mass media. Using Social Network Analysis, we seek to investigate whether closely-knitted community organizations with a strong sense of belongingness can enhance the capacity of individual organizations to gain access to a wide range of additional information. The second objective is to examine the "outcome" related to risk communication and protective action decision-making of these network structures. The data collection will be conducted through 40 face-to-face semi-structured interviews of emergency management coordinators followed by mail surveys of 300-350 emergency response agencies. This study will result in at least two peer-reviewed publications, three presentations at the Natural Hazards and Application Workshop, the American Society for Public Administration, and at Regional Emergency Managers and Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VOAD) meetings.