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

夏威夷大学的博士生阿什利·沃恩将在杰弗里·怀特博士的指导下，研究在既有西方选择又有非西方选择的社会背景下决策过程的动态。其目的是通过建立多变量、统计和人种学决策树模型，阐明当地和科学的决策方法。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点，因为它长期以来疟疾发病率很高，而且它经历了一场保护和复兴传统知识和生活方式，包括治疗传统的全国性运动。初步研究表明，瓦努阿图居民经常将生物医学、传统和宗教治疗结合在一起。研究人员将使用两种模型来检验行为：人种学决策模型和多变量社会行为模型。数据将通过参与者观察、半结构化和结构化访谈、认知方法(堆积分类、共识建模)和调查来收集，以确定影响治疗选择的政治、经济和社会文化因素。这项研究很重要，因为它将有助于社会科学理论和开发将人种学决策模型与多元统计模型相结合的新方法。这项研究的结果将有助于关注瓦努阿图疟疾持续存在的政策制定者，尽管有多种公共卫生干预措施。资助这项研究还支持研究生的教育。

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.